The Mirror
by Leonaria Dragonbane
Summary: An attack on a Midwestern farmhouse leads to a new adventure for the X Men and one unsuspecting new mutant. Rated T for language and mild content. Second Draft Complete. R
1. Life is a Lemon

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

A/N: This is a rough draft. My beloved Beta (my husband) won't touch it until I get to at least chapter 5; he wants me to finish this. Feedback is always appreciated.

Chapter 1.

LIFE IS A LEMON (And I Want My Money Back)

She walked up the steps of the mansion, her shoulders dragging from the weight of everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours. Spring break wasn't supposed to nearly get your family killed. It wasn't supposed to put your kid sister at risk, and it sure as hell wasn't supposed to send you halfway across the country with no luggage, no money, and no friends to try to find a safe place with a bunch of mutants.

"Life SUCKS." She growled as she lifted the heavy knocker on the door. They were supposed to be expecting her, but she seemed to wait forever for someone to answer the door. She stood with her head down, leaning on the ivy covered stone portico.

Yesterday morning she had packed her overnight bag, got in her beat up VW bug and driven home from college. Her parents had hugged her, her kid sister, Mia had been nowhere to be seen, something she had been glad of, after the fight they had last time she was home.. She had sat on the quiet farm house porch watching her dad work in the north field, the red clay and dust kicking up behind the tracker. They boys had been playing tag after cleaning the chicken coop, God how she had hated that chore as a kid.

She still didn't understand how her mom, a genetic engineer, could have chosen to be a simple farmer's wife. It just had never made sense to her. She remembered when she found the framed piece of paper that said MIT in a box of her Mom's stuff from college. There had been a photo album with pictures of her in a lab, with some guy. There had been awards, and a bound work that had simply had the words 'Y Factor' on the cover. Her mom had just laughed and said 'That was a long time ago' and put the box away. She loved her dad, but he just didn't seem to be the type to be able to drag a woman with two PhDs away from a career she had to have loved.

"You seem quiet this afternoon, honey." Her mom had said, coming out of the kitchen. "Is everything alright at school?"

"Yea, Mom. I just don't get it. I see lots of women your age with your credentials with careers and happy and making a difference, and yet you sit here in that old apron, baking pies, when you could be out discovering the cure for cancer or something."

"Kit, honey, I AM happy. Your father and I agreed, when I got pregnant with you, that we were going to take care of you kids first and foremost, and he loves this farm. It has been in his family for generations, and I wasn't going to take him away from this place. When your Grandpa Jamison died, it nearly killed him. This place was in his blood, he was fighting it but it was strong in his blood. When I met him, he was rebellious, fighting the world, fighting his father; he was a wild man, fighting in bars, drinking, carousing. I never thought Frank would settle down, but after your Grandpa died, he did. My research wasn't that earth shattering, and frankly, your Daddy needed to be here. His mother needed him home, and I was glad to come, to be here. My blessing was to be a calming influence on your father; his was to give me an outlet for my temper, my anger and to stir up my wild side a bit. What we have works."

The two women had sat on the porch steps watching the sun set over the fields. Kit had leaned over on her mother's shoulder and just relaxed in the peace of the moment. They talked about quiet farm life incidentals, her two younger brothers playing with the dogs in the yard.

Her sister, Mia, just two years her junior had walked up just then, looking happy and bright eyed. Kit was glad to see the almost eighteen year old smiling, they hadn't been getting along, and she had been dreading the break at home, not wanting another fight. Mia had been angry when she was told she was going to have to wait another year before starting college. She blamed Kit for it, even though it wasn't Kit's fault. The family just didn't have the money to send two at the same time; Kit had worked hard these first two years and had finally won enough scholarships to pay for her tuition and books and living expenses so that Mia could start in the fall.

"Hey, Kit, sorry bout last time." Mia said as she had walked up.

"No problem. Where have you been?"

"Oh, out in the woods, walking. Thinking mostly, Dad told me you got that scholarship you have been trying for and they may be able to send me in the fall." She had sat down on the steps with them and Kit had been glad. The two girls had always been close, and the fight the last month had really been hard on Kit.

"Kit, are you ok. Is there anything going on?" Mia had asked.

"I'm fine. One of the girls from the dorm and I had to deal with some drunks the other night but nothing we couldn't handle. Been a lot of guys getting fresh lately, but I don't have time for guys."

"Speaking of guys, I saw Danny not long ago." Mia had said. "He keeps asking about you."

"How is old Deputy Studmuffin." Kit had laughed. She and Danny had dated through high school, but had broken up before she started to school. He had wanted her to say, but she had wanted more than to be a sheriff's deputy's wife.

"Oh, the usual, giving people a hard time for dumb stuff and strutting around town with his new friends.

"What new friends?" Kit had asked.

"Yea, he has gotten into some new group, anti mutant stuff. They run around, giving people a hard time if they are different. I try to avoid them mostly, and Danny has been getting loud when he is off duty." Mia had said "We don't see a whole lot of those weirdoes down here, but these guys are really making a lot of noise."

"Well, I'm not surprised. Danny always was a little closed minded about people who were different." Kit had replied

"I think he is on duty tonight, so if we go into town we shouldn't run into him."

"Go into town?" Their mother had asked.

"Well it is 'Family Bonding Night' and Mike has that new Karaoke machine. Thought we all might go in and have some fun watching people make idiots of themselves." Mia had laughed. Kit had coined the phrase 'Family Bonding Night'. It didn't matter if they went camping, went for a long drive, sang Karaoke, or just went grocery shopping, the whole family went and usually ended up having a good time. Their mother had laughed, called the two boys and told them to go change their shirts, they were going to town. Her father was just pulling into the yard on the tractor. He had grinned when they told him the evening plans. They all piled into the truck, laughing.

Mike's hangout had been fun. Half the town was there singing and acting like idiots. Kit hadn't laughed like that in months. Half the guys in the place had offered to buy her drinks, just sodas and stuff, but these had been the guys that two years before hadn't even given her the time of day. She was asked to dance, and when she did, had to fight roaming hands. She knew she hadn't changed, and she wasn't interested in these good old farm boys, so after a couple dances she decided to stay at the table with the family. Mike closed up around midnight and the family loaded up in the truck. The girls had chosen to ride in the bed, and Kit had leaned back on the back of the cab, relaxing. She had missed being home, and even with all the local guys turning into octopi, she had had fun. The lights of the truck shone on the old farm house as they pulled up.

Something was wrong. The dogs were whimpering in the back yard, the horses were raising a ruckus in the stable, and the chickens were squawking in the coop. The lights of the truck shone on the front porch; the door had been kicked in, and the porch was a mess, the old rocking swing was hanging down on one hinge, and the cushions had been torn to pieces. Her dad had pulled the shotgun out from under the seat and told them to stay put. He had gone in to check the house. He had come out about fifteen minutes later, the phone in his hand and signaled the family to come up on the porch. Kit could see the large family room around her father's large frame in the door and was shocked at the damage to the family room, the TV was broken, the couch shredded, it looked like some kind of animal had been in there, and there was a faint musky smell like a badger or raccoon had been rubbing against everything, no not a coon, maybe a wildcat. It SMELLED predatory.

"Thanks Sheriff" Her dad had said into the phone. Mia tried to push past him and, being the pain in the ass she had always been, immediately ran for the stairs. Her dad grabbed her and sat her down on the top porch step. Mia had a look of fear on her face. "We all have to stay out of the house. I mean it. The sheriff is coming with a couple deputies. The damage down here is bad, but nothing compared to what happened upstairs, both of you girls' rooms are torn up, Kit's especially bad."

"Dad, who did this?"

"I don't know, Kit, but when I find him, His face and my fist are going to have a meeting of the minds." Her father was angry. She couldn't remember ever seeing him that angry.

That had made Kit really nervous. Suddenly she had thought about the things she had brought from school and left lying in her room. She had brought her laptop from school and was working on a paper that was due after the break and didn't want to lose all that work. The sheriff didn't take long getting there, the Jamison family had been on this farm for generations, and rated the best response time. Unfortunately for Kit, Danny, Deputy Studmuffin, had been on duty, and made sure she knew he was still interested in continuing where they had left off.

"Kit, sweetie, this guy had it out for you." Danny had said, one foot on the step she was sitting on, leaning his elbows on his knee, his face only a few feet from hers. She had pulled back from him. He was trying to intimidate her by his size, something he had done in school, but she had learned that he was just a big coward. "The stuff all over your room is what we call ejaculate in police circles." He was talking down to her.

"In other words, this guy jacked off in my room and left his seminal fluids all over." She said. "Were there viable sperm in it, or do you not have a lab to find that out? Oh yea, you are just a Deputy."

The sheriff came out on the porch.

"Let's get some patrols going, Danny. Move it." He said.

"Just hope this isn't one of those mutants, Sheriff." He had said. "I keep telling you they are going to cause trouble."

"Danny, we ain't got any mutants in this county. Get off that kick NOW or you will be on suspension."

The sheriff told them to wait before going into the house; they had called in the crime lab from the city. The lab van pulled in about that point and they had been there in two hours and collected samples from the girls' rooms before allowing the family to start trying to clean up.

Kit had been shocked when she was finally allowed to enter her room. Nothing had been left untouched, or undefiled. Even the clothes from her closet had been pulled from the hangers and shredded before being used for something else. The room stank. It smelled like one of the jock frats on campus after a big party, like bad sex, bad booze, and lots of sweat. Even Kit's laptop was crushed on the floor, a large stain of something biological on the broken screen. Kit had just walked out the door and sat on the top of the stairs. She could hear Mia in her room, trying to salvage something. It sounded like she was talking to someone. She had come out her door, her favorite skirt in her hand, it hung in shreds.

"Damn, Kit. I thought my room was bad." Mia had said when she looked in the door. "No amount of Fabreeze is gona get that smell out, yuck." Mia was blushing as she said it.

"I just want to know who did this." Kit had said.

That had been when her father called from down stairs. Her mom was on the phone talking to someone. Kit had heard her say "…will send the oldest tonight, I will send Mia to my mother's for a while, they boys don't seem to be targets and they are too young to show any signs anyway. I thought you had told me this son of a bitch was dead…" Her mom moved to another room as she came down the stairs. "…hell. Frank can take care of me, he always could. Just because he got hurt in that one fight years ago doesn't mean he can't still scrap with the best." Her mom really sounded upset with whomever she was talking to. "And you tell Hank McCoy to …." The back door slammed as her mom took the phone out to the porch.

"Kit, your mom has some friends from college; we are going to send you to stay with them for a while." Her dad had held his hand up as Kit started to object. "They have a university in the town, and your credits will transfer, as will your scholarship. You will lose the last half of this semester, but we would rather know you are going to be safe. The sheriff doesn't know what is going on, and frankly couldn't deal with it if he did. Your mom insists on you doing this. I think I can handle it if this guy comes back, but you mom is adamant, and you know how stubborn she can be."

"What fight, dad." Kit had asked.

"I used to go up north, they have something called cage fighting up there, used to do it for extra money before I met your mom. I went up, right after I proposed to your mom to earn some cash for the wedding and I ran into this guy, he tore me up bad, a real badass sombiatch. Took me out of the cage, which was fine with your mom, and I had earned enough money before I was dumb enough to take him on that we were able to have a nice wedding, once I was mended up." He chuckled and pulled back the collar of his shirt. There across the back of his shoulder were three parallel scars that went underneath the edge of his undershirt.

"I always wanted a rematch; especially after he pulled those bone claws of his, guess I deserved it though...I was warned not to hit him in the groin. That man had the hardest eyes I had ever seen." Her dad had taken her out on the front porch and lit a cigar. He only did that when he was upset, anymore. Her mom had made him quit in the house.

After that, her mom had come back in, and hung up the phone.

"She goes." Her mom had said, sadly.

"Nanc, if you think this is the right thing. I can take care of us I always have. She doesn't have to leave." Frank had said.

"There is more going on here than just a simple attack." Her mother had said.

"Nancy, I thought you gave up all that crap."

"I did, but I still have a few devices around in case of emergencies." She had what looked like a fancy palm pilot in her hand. Her dad had stormed off, cursing under his breath.

"Kit, honey, this let me send a sample of the DNA of the man that attacked this family to some friends of mine. They were able to identify him, or at least narrow down who it was, they still have a few more tests to confirm it. But if it is who they think it is, then there is a really REALLY bad mutant after you, and the only people I know who could protect you from him are in New York, so that is where we are sending you."

"But, Mom, won't he come after me there, if I am the target." Her mother laughed.

"I certainly hope he does. They are ready for him." Her mother had a strange, almost bloodthirsty look in her eye.

Her dad had come back into the house, grabbed his coat, and signaled her to follow him to the truck. He had handed her some cash for a cab, driven her to the airport, picked up the plane ticket that was waiting for her, and sat with her outside the security checkpoint until right before she had to leave for the flight.

"Your mom thought you might need this, kiddo." He had said as he handed her a cell phone, something the family had never been able to afford before, and hugged her as she walked through the tightened security. She looked back, his face smiling as tears ran down his cheeks. She had a note written in her mother's hand

Kit, when you get to New York, take a cab to Westchester, to 1407 Graymalkin Lane , in Salem Center . At the gate buzz in and ask for a Ms. Monroe. I love you, Mom.

The cab had dropped her at the front door; the cabbie seemed ready to get out of there. He didn't even wait for anyone to come out, just took off. Now she stood, waiting; a faint scent of leather and cigar smoke that she usually associated with her father lingered in the air. She started to reach up to knock again, when the door swung open. A young oriental girl, with dark hair and blue eyes stood there.

"I am looking for a Ms. Monroe." Kit said.

"She is in her office. Follow me." The girl popped a bubble at her, and turned and walked into the entry hall. There was a large room off to one side, full of kids just relaxing. A foosball table was surrounded by about ten of them, either cheering or groaning depending on which of the players they were rooting for. Kit couldn't see the players for the crowd.

"I keep telling Ro we need a pool table. If we had one maybe Logan wouldn't go to the dang bars as often." The girl was saying as they walked past the rec room. "Name is Jubilee…." She threw over her shoulder.

"Kit."

"Coolio, here is Ro's office. She is expectin' ya."

Jubilee opened the door and then sprinted off in the direction of the rec room. Kit walked into the opulent office. Sitting at the desk was a beautiful woman with white hair and creamy caramel skin.

"Sit down, Kit. Your mother told me what happened." She stood up and gracefully held her hand toward one of the two chairs in front of the desk.

"Well, you seem to know more about what is going on than I do." Kit said as she sat in the leather chair. She looked across the desk at Ms. Monroe.

"According to what we have been able to determine, the attack on your house was done by a mutant who goes by the name Sabertooth. We had thought he was killed a while back, but the evidence is too overwhelming."

"Why would he attack my family?" Kit asked. "And why did he trash MY room so bad?"

"We are not entirely certain. You mother sent samples of the biological residue left at the scene and as soon the tests are complete we will know for certain if he is the mutant in question."

"Biological residue…they guy jacked off all over my room." Kit was shaking.

"Sabertooth is bad news; plain and simple. Your parents were wise to separate you and your sister. If he is targeting you, he will follow, if he isn't then your mother and father are prepared to handle that. Why he attacked, we don't know yet. Why he targeted you, we don't know yet. What I am more interested in is he acting alone, or is he working with others?"

"Mom said something about sending Mia to my grandmother. I hope he won't go after her."

"It is doubtful, the bulk of his rage and territoriality was directed at your possessions and room, and we think you are the intended target. Sabertooth is what we call a feral, a mutant with strong animal instincts. This attack is very disturbing based on what we know of him. What his intentions are we can only guess, and frankly from the violence of the attack on your house, I can tell you, they aren't pleasant."

Ms. Monroe stood up and handed a key across the desk. "We have put you on the second floor, room 208. You will be sharing space with Marie and Jubilation. Marie is also attending the university and the room is already set up with internet access. I have already contacted the admissions office and they have requested your transcripts and financial aid records. There will be no problem with you starting in the fall, and all of your professors back home have given you incompletes for this semester so you can make up the courses."

"Thank you, Ms. Monroe." Kit said surprised at the efficiency and organization of these mutants. "I don't suppose you know someone who could at least loan me something to sleep in tonight. I am going to have to go shopping tomorrow. There wasn't anything in my room left untouched."

"Call me Ro and I am sure we can find something." Ro walked around the desk and put her arm around Kit's shoulders. "Everything will be ok. I promise." She said fiercely.

"I can't believe you are helping me like this. I am not even a mutant." Kit said.

Ro just smiled and walked Kit to the door; a tall young man with dark hair walked by. "Bobby, would you take Kit here to the laundry room and see if there is a spare set of school sweats she can borrow. She is going to be rooming with Marie and Jubilee."

"Sure," he said and smiled at her.

She followed Bobby to the back of the house where a large laundry room with several industrial size machines grinding in the background. He opened a cabinet and showed her where the tops and bottoms were. He also grabbed a set of sheets and a blanket from another cabinet.

"Trust me; you are going to need these. Marie and Jubes have been using that extra bed for storage and I doubt it has been changed in a month." He grinned at her, "Don't tell them I said so, but they are both slobs."

She grinned back, and with a change of clothing and clean sheets for the bed, she thought she might actually get some sleep tonight.

"Hey," She asked Bobby as she followed him up a flight of stairs off the kitchen, "who smokes the cigars around here? I swear I smelled one when I walked up to the door."

"That would be Logan." She noticed Bobby's shoulders hitch up a bit. "He teaches PE and Self Defense classes."

"You don't like him much, huh?"

"I like him fine…" Bobby said as they reached the second floor.

She followed him to her room and he said good-night.

"Good luck in there; it is a Logan fan club for sure."

She smiled and opened the door. Sitting on the bed closest to the door wearing headphones that were blasting sound into the room was the young girl who had lead her to Ro's office. Sitting at a desk was an auburn haired girl wearing long gloves; a long sleeved shirt and jeans, even though the room was warm. She looked up and over her shoulder, and Kit noticed the streaks of white in the front of her hair.

"Hi," said the girl at the desk. "Ah'm Marie."

"Kit" she said as she sat the pile of linens on the empty bed in the room.

"See, Rogue, I told ya we would end up with her." Jubilee said as she pulled the phones down around her neck. "We're the only ones with a spare bed."

"Jubes, quit. Pardon the kid over there, she has a big mouth, and turn that shit down, yer gona blow an eardrum or somethin'" Marie reached over and turned off the cd player.

"Dang, Rogue, I was listenin to that."

"Hey I got a test after the break and ah am TRYEN' ta study. You wana listen to that crap turn it down, or go someplace else."

"Damn, between you and Wolvie, who the fuck needs parents." Jubilee stormed out of the room.

"Sorry about that." Marie said.

"Why'd she call you Rogue?" Kit asked.

"We all kinda got nicknames 'round here. Ah'm Rogue, Jubilation Lee is Jubilee, Bobby, my boyfriend, is Iceman. They just kinda start callin ya by your nickname pretty quick round here."

"So who is Wolvie?" Kit asked as she made the bed. "Sounds like some kinda dog or something."

"That would be Logan, AKA Wolverine." Marie said over her shoulder as she turned back to the book on the desk. Kit started looking around the room and noticed a hook over Marie's bed. Hanging from it was a set of dog tags.

"Your boyfriend in the army or something? He didn't look like it when he brought me up here." Kit asked.

"Na, those belong to Logan. I hang onta 'em for him, so he has somethin ta come back for."

Kit just shook her head. Come back for? She somehow didn't want to follow that train of thought. "Where is the bathroom in this place?"

"Over there, one of the reasons Jubes and Ah like this room, private bathroom. It used ta be one of the guest suites, but with all tha new students, it was converted."

"Thanks." Kit said as she opened the door. A nice sized bathroom greeted her, complete with whirlpool tub and rainfall showerhead. She could really get to like this. She noticed a new in the package toothbrush and guest tube of toothpaste on the sink, and fresh towels by the tub.

"Hey, whose toothbrush is this?" She called out to the other room

"Yers. Jubes figured ya'd be in with us and from tha look of ya, would need a hot bath and prob'ly sleep."

"Thanks." Kit reached over and turned on the water for the tub. The sound of the water covered her sobs as she stood at the skink. These people were being so kind; it was getting hard to keep saying thank you. Suddenly the door opened and Marie stood there. She walked over and just put her arms around Kit.

"Just watch tha skin, kid." Marie said as Kit cried on her shoulder. "Ah don't want ta hurt ya, and since my powers came back Ah ain't real sure bout touchin people."

Kit cried until her eyes burned and no more tears would fall. She sat down on the toilet lid and looked at Marie. Marie reached over and shut off the water, and then turned on the controls for the jets.

"Ya look like ya could use this…" She walked out the door but left it open, "If ya need ta talk, Ah'm right outside."

Kit slipped out of her jeans shorts and T shirt. She was still wearing the same bra and underwear she had worn out with the family. She couldn't believe it had been less than twenty four hours since they came home to the mess. How could a person's life change that quickly? She finished undressing and slipped into the warm tub, the jets relaxing her as she leaned back on the back of the tub.

Out in the room she heard Jubilee come back, and a rough male voice that sent shivers down her spine. She reached over and pushed the bathroom door partially closed, and a female hand reached in and pulled it shut. She could hear the three of them talking but couldn't hear what was being said over the sound of the tub jets, so she just lay back and relaxed. She stayed in the tub until she heard the male voice leave, and the door opened back up. Jubilee came in with her sweats and a new package of underwear.

"Ro kinda figured you might need some things so she sent me and Logan into town to Wal-Mart to pick up some things. I didn't know what size bra, so I bought some panties and shampoo and stuff. I also bought a night shirt if you don't want to wear the sweats to bed."

"Thanks. God I seem to be saying that a lot tonight."

"Don't worry about it; trust me it isn't a big deal around here. People have shown up with less than you have, trust me."

Kit climbed out of the tub after Jubilee left and pulled on a clean pair of underwear and reached for the sweatpants, when she saw the beige knit night shirt lying on top. She pulled it on over her head, and went into the bedroom. The other girls ignored her as she climbed into bed. She would deal with things tomorrow, right now; all she wanted to do was sleep, sleep and forget that life sucked.

**LIFE IS A LEMON AND I WANT MY MONEY BACK**

It's all or nothing, and nothing's all I ever get  
Everytime I turn it on, I burn it up and burn it out  
It's always something, there's always something going wrong  
That's the only guarantee, that's what this is all about

It's a never ending attack, everything's a lie and that's a fact  
Life is a lemon and I want my money back  
And all the morons and all the stooges with their coins  
They're the ones who make the rules, it's not a game, it's just a rout

There's desperation, there's desperation in the air  
It leaves a stain on all your clothes and no detergent gets it out  
And we're always slipping thru the cracks  
Then the movie's over, fade to black  
Life is a lemon and I want my money back

What about love? It's defective - it's always breaking in half  
What about sex? It's defective - it's never built to really last  
What about your family? It's defective - all the batteries are shot  
What about your friends? They're defective - all the parts are out of stock  
What about hope? It's defective - it's corroded and decayed  
What about faith? It's defective - it's tattered and it's frayed  
What about your Gods? They're defective - They forgot the warranty  
What about your town? It's defective - it's a dead end street to me  
What about your school? It's defective - it's a pack of useless lies  
What about your work? It's defective - it's a crock and then you die  
What about your childhood? It's defective - it's dead and buried in the past  
What about your future? It's defective - and you can shove it up your ass!

I want my money back - life is a lemon  
I want my money back - life is a lemon, life is a lemon  
It's all or nothing, and nothing's all I ever get  
Everytime I turn it on, I burn it up and burn it out  
It's a never ending attack, everything's a lie and that's a fact  
Life is a lemon and I want my money back  
And we're always slipping thru the cracks  
Then the movie's over, fade to black  
Life is a lemon and I want my money back  
Back, back, back, back!  
I want my money back, I want my money back - life is a lemo


	2. Good Girls Go to Heaven

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

Chapter II

Good Girls Go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere.

He watched as the old man drove the frail out of the driveway. He chuckled; idiots. He watched quietly, the dogs still had his scent, but he didn't care, they would get used to it, or they would be dead. It was after dawn when the old man drove back up, alone. His shoulders slumped as he walked up the steps to the farmhouse.

He was patient. Something most people who knew him didn't realize. He had to be, he lived by hunting, by stalking prey. The school bus ran, and the two boys sprinted out the front door and onto the bus. They weren't important. He watched the old man come out and head for the barn. He would be working in the north field again today. Mess or no, crops still had to get into the ground. That meant he had all day to watch the house.

And he waited. The tractor headed out from the barn, the old woman came out on the porch with rugs from the living room, the younger frail with her. They started beating the rugs, and he watched. They went back and forth into the house two or three times, once carrying the couch from the family room and dropping it against the barn to be torn up later for recycling.

The frail came out on the porch alone, and looked straight to where he was hiding. The look on her face was priceless. Impatient, bored, longing, just the way he liked to see it. He reached slowly back and pulled the knot out of his long blonde hair. She liked it loose, his frail, and from the look on her face, she was going to be looking for him any time now. He chuckled deep in his throat. Frail nothing, that tiny girl could give him a run for his money, and had. He had been stalking her for months, stalking her until SHE had caught him.

It had been so unexpected. After Liberty Island he had gone into hiding. The runt had hurt him, no doubt, and he hadn't wanted to let him know he was still alive. He was going to get even, that was certain, but on his terms and in his time, as always. He had come out here to the Midwest, found a place full of farms and wild lands, someplace he could hide, hunt and live quietly until they had forgotten about him again. And that was when he saw her. He had been watching the town when he saw this kid sitting on the abandoned train depot, throwing rocks at the tracks. She looked so bored sitting there he had laughed; she had looked up, right at where he had been hiding, jumped up and ran off. He had followed her; she had jumped on a mountain bike and ridden down the road, straight to this farm. He watched her for weeks. There was nothing else to do, and she wasn't bad to look at, for a frail.

About a month after he started watching her, he let her see him, just for a second, by the side of the road, before he slipped into the underbrush. He waited to see if there would be an uproar in town, but nothing. She hadn't said a word. He watched the family, just a normal farm family. Then one weekend the sister had come home. She threw a crimp into his plans. He had smelled her mutation, and her heat. She was going to pull every man for miles to her if she wasn't taken soon. And he didn't want the competition. He had to get rid of her, somehow.

It had been after a fight between the two sisters that weekend that the young frail had gone running into the woods. He had followed her, planning to strike. She knew those woods well, and had been all over them lately. Her scent was strong, and it made tracking her difficult. Track her he did; she was his, she just didn't know it yet.

He had been stupid; thinking about what he was going to do to her when he caught her, the things he was going to make her do to him. He hadn't heard the noise behind him, hadn't realized the strength of her scent had switched directions. When the tree branch hit him in the head, it had been like a strike from heaven, he had fallen forward stunned, and his frail stood over him, branch in hand.

"Who the hell are you, and why are you following me?" She had demanded.

He growled and jumped to his feet, the gash on his head healing without a scar. He gave her his predatory grin and started forward. He was going to have a lot of fun with this frail, he had thought. He stalked towards her slowly, allowing her to see him, get a GOOD look at him. He had wanted to hear her screams when he pinned her under him. He had wanted the joy of silencing them with a claw in her throat; her death spasms would be so sweet. And then, he would be damned, if she didn't drop the branch, and stand there, hands on her hips, glaring at him. The one thing he had noticed was her lack of fear. He had planned to fix that, he reached out to grab her throat but, she moved forward, and suddenly she was against his chest. Her arms had wrapped around his waist. He had been stunned. She was so small there, barely coming to his chest and her scent was in his nose, and it still wasn't the fear he had expected, the fear that excited him, this was much more. The frail WANTED him. HIM?

He didn't know why he did it, why he didn't just take her, and kill her. He had found himself slowly wrapping his arms around her, almost against his will. He hadn't crushed her, even though he could have; instead he ran his hands down her spine, slowly, caressingly and held her against his chest.

"Name's Vic" he had said, bending down to whisper it into her hair. Her scent was fresh turned soil, fresh cut hay, lilacs and sunshine, with a strong underscoring of lust. It had been intoxicating.

"Mia" she had whispered against his chest, and he had felt dampness in his shirt.

He didn't know how long they stood there, or even when she had started talking. He was just mesmerized by the feel of her against him, the scent of her that invaded him, the softness of her creamy hair as it brushed his hands as he comforted her while she cried. It had started softly, her tears, and then she had been wracked with sobs, sobs strong enough to rock even him on his feet.

"It isn't fair." She had sobbed against him. "Kit gets to do everything. She got to go to prom because she was the oldest. I didn't get to go because we had to pay for her college. She got to go to college right out of high school. I have to wait until she is done or can pay for it herself. I am always putting my life on hold for her, just because she is older; just because she got straight 'A's. And now, she is whining because some guys hit on her at school. Guys don't even LOOK at me when she is around. And of course I can't do jack shit because of old Deputy Studmuffin thinking if he looks out for me, Kit will give him the time of day again."

He had laughed at that, which had caused her to look up at him, her tear streaked face a mask of anger.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" She had struggled to get out of his arms, but he had tightened them.

"The idea that no guy would pay any attention to you, Darlin, that's what." He had said. He had dropped his arms, not certain why he was even talking to her, She should have been screaming under him as he took her, and then bleeding, dying. Instead, she pushed against his chest, and he had fallen back against a tree. He sat down, hard on the ground. He hadn't been certain if it was the push, or the shock at his own behavior, and what it could mean, that caused his knees to go out.

She had shocked him again. She had walked right up to him, and sat down next to him, leaned against him and rested her head on his chest.

"You wouldn't know what it is like." Mia had said, her hand resting lightly on his stomach. She started fiddling with the loose threads of a tear, and before he had known it the tear was much larger and her hand was resting on bare flesh. That was when it had hit him; he wanted her, not just sex. He WANTED to hear what she was saying. He wanted to be the one she turned to. He had been watching her for weeks, had known her name less than an hour, and somehow, she had become the center of his world.

He had handled it the only way he knew how. He had growled, and grabbed her hand.

"If ya don't quit that, Darlin, you are going ta be in a world of hurtin." He had said roughly. "And no, I don't know what it is like. I always take what I want and damn the consequences."

She had looked up at him then, and he could see the need in her eyes. "Then why don't you." She had challenged him, her hand slipping lower as she said it. Then she had kissed him. He could have sworn his breathing stopped. It wasn't a little girl, frail, kiss, but deep, demanding, her tongue grazing over his, over his fangs, her teeth biting his lower lip. He had taken her then, or maybe she had taken him. He still cringed at her cry and the smell of blood, he had hurt her. She hadn't warned him, and he doubted it would have made a difference, but it still bothered him, that the first time he had wanted a woman to WANT him, he had hurt her. Just an hour before he would have THRILLED to that scream, it would have sent him over the edge, and her death throws would have made his pleasure that much more. Instead he had stopped, held her, kissed her, and gently touched her until her body told him she was ready for more. And then she had screamed again, just one word, but it still rang in his ears, his name, and right before she had collapsed against his chest, hair damp with sweat. It still made his head spin.

This tiny frail, walking across that farm yard, straight to where he was hiding in the trees, wanted him, needed him, and something deep inside him was responding, a part of him he had tried for God knew how long to stamp out, was rising up, and he was drowning in it. He couldn't remember the last time he had cared about anyone, well other than the runt but he didn't count, that wasn't caring, that was making sure the runt could survive. But this tiny slip of a girl brought out a part of him that he thought was dead over a century ago, but here it was, rising up, and the ache in his chest as he watched her approach was worse than the pain from Redeye's optic blast; worse, and so much better.

They had met many times over the last four weeks, she would take off on her bike, and he would follow. She made a game out of it, made him hunt her down, catch her, like prey. He laughed, really laughed with her. Not that they talked much, but when they did, he listened to every word she said. Sometimes they would be hurried, wanting the physical over so they could have time to talk. Sometimes, they would find someplace secluded and make love all afternoon, hardly speaking a word. He didn't know when, or how, but they had begun to plan. He had explained to her what he could smell, what he could sense about her sister, and had come to realize that no matter how much she bitched, she loved Kit, and wanted her safe. She was more worried about her than she wanted anyone to know, anyone except him.

"So there you are." She said as she slipped into the trees. "I only have a minute. Mom is sending me to my grandma's after our little stunt." She was grinning up at him, where he sat in the elbow of the tree.

"What did you expect," he looked down. "I trashed the place good. Wasn't easy either, I really wish you had stayed home ta help."

"Like we would have gotten anything done, and did you HAVE to shred my favorite skirt. I was kinda planning on wearing that next time I came out to see you."

"Darlin, your scent on that skirt was the ONLY thing that let me do what you wanted done. Now, I am chaffed and sore, and you ain't even offerin ta kiss it."

"Yea, RIGHT, Vic, you ain't got no owies left to kiss. You just want up my skirt and that ain't happening now. I don't have time. I did give you the directions to Grams' house, right?" Mia asked.

"Darlin', I could find it by your scent alone." He said as he jumped down from the tree, landing right in front of her. He grabbed her by the arms and lifted her up and kissed her hard.

"Just remember, you promised to get me out of here." She said when she could speak again. Her arms and legs were wrapped around him, and his hands were supporting her back

"We will, Darlin'" He caressed her back as she dropped to the ground. By the time her feet landed, his hands were on her shoulders. She had a mischievous glint in her eye.

"I can't wait until Kit figures out what is going on." Mia laughed. "She is so going to freak."

Creed chuckled as he pulled his frail close. Kit wasn't going to be the only one to freak. He wondered how long the runt would take to unwrap it his birthday present. He had a few months, so if he took his time, the present would keep. He wondered if he should have wrapped it up. No, this would be so much more fun this way

"She is so going to hate having her choices taken away from her. She is such a control freak, and if this Logan guy is anything like you, he is going to drive her insane." Mia was saying as he thought about the runt.

"Do you think I am taking your choices away, Darlin?" He started back to the moment. For some reason, the answer to that question mattered to him.

"No way, this was my idea remember. I paid a whole lot more attention to Grams and Mom when they talked about this shit than she did. I was ready for it when it hit, and I was always the one who was open to new ideas, not my sainted sister. She is so going to freak when she finds out she is a mutant. That is so not in her five year plan."

The sound of her mother's frantic voice interrupted them.

"I have to go, lover. Meet me tomorrow night at Grams' house; I will leave the window unlocked. GOD I am so looking forward to a bed, even if it is that damned guest bed of hers. I have no clue how you are going to fit on that thing." She laughed as she walked away, stopping just before she left the shelter of the trees. She turned back, reached under her skirt, and then wiped her hand on a tree. "For you, lover, till I see you again."

She ran back toward the house, and he walked slowly to the tree, he could smell her scent, her need, and it drew him ever closer to that tree. He stood there, just allowing the smell of her arousal to flow over him. Damn she had showered since yesterday morning. It was just her scent; tomorrow, he would make sure their scents were mingled, tomorrow.

Mia walked up to the porch; she had to stop herself from looking over her shoulder to where Vic was in the shadows of the trees. She knew the gift she had left for him was driving him insane, and she knew she was going to be very VERY tired in the morning.

"Where were you?" Her mother asked.

"I just needed some time, Mom. I am going to miss this place." Hoping her mother thought the smile on her face was because of home.

"You won't be gone long. This Sabertooth character will be caught and then you can come home. Thank God he doesn't know where your grandmother lives." Mia tried to hide the wince from her Mom.

A dark sedan pulled into the driveway, and the door opened. Her grandmother walked over and gave her a big hug. "Come on, Mia; let's get your things loaded."

Her bag was sitting on the porch, and she picked it up and put it in the trunk. Her mother and grandmother looked at her, her mother with sad eyes, and her grandmother with something else. She looked up at them and grinned. "Well, at least I can look into what classes I want to take next fall."

Mia opened the front door of the sedan and got into the passenger seat. She shut the door, and her mother and grandmother talked a few minutes, then her grandmother opened the door and got behind the wheel.

She pulled out of the yard and down the driveway to the county road. The two women sat in silence as the car ate up the miles; farms and old abandoned buildings the only scenery.

Her grandmother looked over at her. "Mia, if you ever do anything this stupid again, I am going to tan your hide. That phone call last week scared the hell out of me; asking about what to do if you knew a mutant. I sure hope to hell this man of yours is worth it." Her grandmother said suddenly.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Mia said, she hoped she sounded sincere.

"Don't play coy with me, young lady, I went through this very thing with your grandfather, watched all four of my girls go through it, and I will be damned if I am going to let you tear your family apart because you want some man your daddy won't approve of."

Mia looked at the older woman in shock. What had given her away? Grams had always been a smart woman, but Mia and Vic had been careful.

"Let me tell you a few things. The women in this family have ALWAYS liked rough men. My father was a mountain man and trapper, your grandfather a roughneck in the oilfields. Your father was one of the biggest carousers I ever saw. WE like our men wild, and if you can tame this one, more power to ya girl, but don't hurt your kin over it. You can only burn so many bridges. 'Sides, it ain't you I am worried about."

"We wanted Kit to be safe, to have a chance to find what we have. Mom needed to send her to those friends of hers years ago, you know how mom is when she goes on with that science garbage, something about it hadn't manifested and there was no need to rock the boat when it might never be anything worth worrying about. Besides there is this guy there, someone my boyfriend knows from way back, who needs her. He's rough, hard, but knows how to be gentle, and needs his edges polished a bit. He's going to want things his way, he's been around a while, older guy, This is going to shock the hell out of him, and he is going to fight it, but it won't last long, and when he stops, Kit will be happy, I promise." Mia said, quietly. She knew lying to Grams would only get her into deeper water, and the water was almost boiling now.

"You two are playing with fire, kid. Your sister is more and less than we are. Somehow she got something different, along with our ability to tame wild men. You say this guy likes things his way, well you know your sister and that ain't going to work. Her always having to be in control is going to make this rough on her, especially if this man of yours is right about the one he sent her to, I ain't worried about him fighting this. This could kill her, if she fights it hard enough."

"What!" Mia felt a shock of fear. She just accepted what she and Vic had found, she didn't even think that anyone else would want to fight it that hard.

"I had a sister, your great aunt Alice; she was a lot like your sister Kit. Strong, opinionated, stubborn; fell hard for a guy but he was married and she wasn't going to break em up; ended up killing herself over it."

"Well this guy ain't married, and with what Kit is, and the things that are going on around her she needs someone to look after her and this guy needs looking after according to Vic." Mia said, relieved. If that was the only problem then they were free and clear.

"Vic?"

"Gram, I ain't going to lie to ya. I love him. He loves me. He and this guy ain't friends but they have known each other a long time, and if anyone can take care of Kit and keep her safe he can. Vic knew she was a mutant the first time he smelled her; and if she is then she needs to accept it and learn to use it. Your calling mom and reminding her of her old friend helped set the stage, made sure Kit went where she needed to be. These friends of mom's have this place where they teach mutants to use what they have. And if she and this guy don't hit it off, well there are plenty of other rough men around there for her to file the rough edges off of."

"That isn't what I am worried about. Mia and you damned well know it. Kit is going to fight this, hard. She is strong, almost too strong; the mutation will only be a distraction. I am worried that she and this man WILL hit it off, and when they do, it is going to cause an explosion, one that your sister won't survive."

"Grams, Kit is STRONG. She can survive anything, even, as Vic says, 'an annoying runt of a canucklehead who couldn't see the forest for the trees if you didn't hit him with one every now and then.'" Mia looked across the car at the older woman. She knew just how much her grandmother was concerned. Mia remembered sneaking downstairs, listening to her mother and grandmother's whispered conversations about the two of them. Kit would never go, but Mia remembered. Mia remembered every word, even the ones she hadn't understood. Kit had no choice in this, and the sooner she realized it the better. Mia knew Kit was smart, she'd figure it out.

"Kit will be fine. This will work, Grams. And in a year, she is going to look back on this and thank me."

Her grandmother looked over at her. "You planned this well, didn't ya kido. I just hope you realize the best laid plans of mice and men can get really fucked up."

Mia was quiet for the rest of the drive. She really was worried about her sister. She knew that once she started down this path, it was going to be hard on her, but it was so worth it. She smiled, thinking about her plans for later that evening, God she hoped Grams was still a sound sleeper. She dozed off, leaning on the door frame. At least she was getting out of that podunk town and someplace that at least had a Wal-Mart within 20 miles.

**GOOD GIRLS GO TO HEAVEN (BAD GIRLS GO EVERYWHERE)**

When the wind is howling through your window pane  
It's not the only pain of the night  
You're burning up in your bed, you got a fever of love  
And there's not an anti-body in sight

Hey Jenny, Jenny, why are you crying? There's a beauty of a moon in the sky  
But I guess when you've been leading such a sheltered life  
You never lift your head and look so high  
You don't have a lot, but it's all that you've got  
And you can turn it into more than it seems  
Just give it a shot, fantasize every movement  
And imagine every inch of your dream

No one said it had to be real  
But it's gotta be something you can reach out and feel now  
It ain't right, it ain't fair  
Castles fall in the sand and we fade in the air  
And the good girls go to heaven, but the bad girls go everywhere  
Good girls go to heaven, but the bad girls go everywhere  
Somebody told me so, somebody told me now I know  
Every night in my prayer, I'll be praying that the  
Good girls go to heaven, but the bad girls go everywhere  
When the sweat is sizzling on your skin in the dark  
And you're desperate now for somewhere to turn  
Every muscle in rebellion, every nerve is on edge  
And every limb has been erotically burned

Hey Johnny, Johnny, why are you shaking?  
When a boy should do whatever he can  
You've been nothing but an angel every day of your life  
And now you wonder what it's like to be damned  
You don't have a lot, but it's all that you've got  
And you can turn it into more than it seems  
Just give it a shot, fantasize every movement  
And imagine every inch of your dream

No one said it had to be real  
But it's gotta be something you've been wanting to feel now  
It ain't right, it ain't fair  
Castles fall in the sand and we fade in the air  
And the good boys go to heaven, but the bad boys go everywhere  
Good boys go to heaven, but the bad boys go everywhere  
Somebody told me so, somebody told me now I know  
Every night in my prayer, I'll be praying that the  
Good boys go to heaven, but the bad boys go everywhere  
Every time I try and dream you, I can't believe how hard it's been to  
Conjure up your face and trace your body in the air  
All the seconds go on forever, but the thirds and fourth ones are even better  
Everytime I do it just a little bit longer  
Everytime I dream, it's just a little bit stronger than real life


	3. Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

Chapter III

Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through

Kit woke to the sounds of kids running down the hallway outside the door, music blaring in the room, and the shower running in the bathroom. She rolled over and pulled the pillow off of her head. Sunlight was streaming into the bedroom window and Jubilee was bouncing around the room to the music as she dressed for the day.

The shower shut off, and Marie stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel.

"Mornin' sleepyhead. Yur gona have ta wait for a shower. Jubes is a hot water hog. I ran out 'for Ah could condition my hair…AGAIN." She threw a pillow at Jubilee.

"Hey, not my fault we only have that small heater. I keep telling you we need to ask 'Ro to put in a full sized one here." Jubilee grabbed her yellow trench coat and sprinted for the door. "Got ta get to class. Hank'll kill me if I am late again."

Kit sat up in bed. "Class?"

"This is a school, sugar." Marie laughed. "Us older kids, we take courses at the University if we want. Ah'm gona be late myself if I don't get a move on. Goin' ta be a bad hair day, thanks ta Jube." She grabbed a scrunchie off the post of her headboard and pulled her hair back into a pony tail. She grabbed her backpack and a long pair of gloves and headed out the door.

"Ya better hurry if ye'r hungry. Kitchen closes in twenty for breakfast. We let ya sleep in as long as we could." Kit jumped out of bed her stomach growling. Food sounded really good right now.

She pulled on the sweats from the laundry room and headed out into the hall. Several younger kids ran by dressed in the same type of sweats, running pell-mell for the stairs. They were teasing one smaller kid about having to run laps if she was late. She followed them down the main staircase. The lower floor was full of kids and teenagers moving quickly into rooms. It was like trying to walk across a strong stream, with the current pulling you in another direction, she quickly got turned around. Suddenly a hand grabbed her elbow.

She looked around. It was Bobby from the night before.

"Looking for something?" He asked with a smile.

"Yea, Marie said something about food." She laughed.

"Follow me, the kitchen is this way." She followed him down a back corridor to a homey looking kitchen area. Inside was a shock. Standing at the stove, wearing an expensive suit, apron, and wielding a spatula was a huge blue furry guy. Kit stopped dead in her tracks.

Bobby looked back at her and grinned. "Hank, two more for breakfast."

"Hrmph, Mr. Drake. Breakfast repast ended five minutes ago, however, if you both will volunteer your concentrated efforts to the cleaning of the kitchen, I will be most pleased to…Oh my stars and garters." Hank dropped his spatula and walked to where Kit was standing.

"You look just like your mother did at your age." Kit could swear she heard him choke. He reached out a hand. "Hank McCoy, I knew your mother in college."

"Kit…you knew my mother? She never mentioned knowing a blue guy." Kit was still reeling.

"Well, I am certain there are many things your mother never mentioned. Nancy was always a quiet one." Hank backed away from Kit, dropping his hand to his side. He handed Bobby the spatula and reached back to untie the apron. "I will leave you to provide the young lady's repast. I am afraid I am going to be late for a meeting."

"Well you could have shaken his hand." Bobby said, glaring at Kit as Hank walked down the hallway toward the front of the mansion. "Hank is a good guy. He can't help being blue and furry. You are going to see much worse than him around here, so start getting used to it." Bobby reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of soda. A rim of frost appeared on the outside before he set it on the table and popped the top. Kit stared at him in shock. So that was why his nickname was Iceman.

"You can drink yours hot for all I care." Bobby turned to the stove and grabbed the bowl of pancake mix Hank had left next to it.

"Hey all this is new to me, so give me a fucking break. I didn't ask to be here. I didn't ask for any of this. I am just a normal girl who just wants to go to college and have a life. A life I CHOOSE. A life I WANT. I know my mom thinks I will be safe here, but DAMN IT. I didn't CHOOSE to be here." She screamed at Bobby. "You know just because most people here are a mutant doesn't mean EVERYONE is. YOU might try to find out before YOU make assumptions. Forget breakfast, I am not hungry anymore anyway." She stormed out.

"Kit, wait…" Bobby followed her out the door, but she was already running down the hall. "Forget it."

Kit ran straight out the front door and across the front yard. She found a bench sitting under a tree and sat down. What did these people expect? She had never even SEEN a mutant before yesterday. She was just supposed to accept everything she saw at face value? And how the hell did her mom know these people. The blue guy said he went to school with her, but how come she had never mentioned it. There were too many things she didn't understand. She started shaking. She hated not being able to put everything in order; to not understand what was going on around her. She liked knowing what each day was going to be like. She was a planner, an organizer, Mia called her a control freak, and maybe she was right.

"There you are." Ms. Monroe said as she walked across the yard. Kit jumped when she heard her voice.

"Are you alright? Bobby said you were upset in the kitchen." Ro sat down on the bench next to her.

"I didn't ask to be here." Kit said defensively. "I guess I hurt that blue guy, Hank's feelings, but I am not used to all this stuff."

"I know. He came and talked to me about it before he left. He and your mother were very close at one time. I don't even think he realized you hadn't seen a mutant before, much less how his appearance would affect you. He has been looking forward to meeting you since I told him your mother called. He has a meeting this morning in the city, but he would like to look you over this afternoon. Hank is acting as our resident doctor at the moment."

"Look me over?" Kit said. She wasn't happy with the idea of anyone poking at her, much less a big blue guy who was supposedly close to her mother at one time. "I'm fine, I wasn't hurt or anything. The guy was gone when we got home. I don't need a doctor poking at me."

"It is a standard procedure whenever a new person comes to the school. You are going to be here for a while, and we need to have at least baseline medical information about you, in case you get sick or something."

"Whatever. I can always call my doctor at home and have my medical records sent out." Kit said.

"Kit, please, try to understand, we are trying to help you, and all we are asking for is a blood test and a few X-rays." Ro put her arm around Kit's shoulder. "Now, let's take care of a few other things this morning." She pointed to the driveway, where a sedan was being pulled up to the front door. "You and I have a date with the mall."

She stood and reached back to take Kit's hand. "Let's get you some clothes, things you will feel comfortable in." Kit stood up and followed her to the car. Bobby stepped out of the driver's seat and walked up the front steps, he glared at her as he closed the front door. She opened the passenger door and got in the car. Maybe Hank wasn't the only one she might need to apologize to. Ro got in the driver's side and put the car in gear. As they drove down the long driveway of the school, Kit looked out the window. She was feeling very ashamed of how she had acted this morning.

"Maybe I can apologize to Hank this afternoon." She said quietly.

"That might be a good thing. He and your mother were close when they were younger; you know he could have been your father."

Kit looked over at Ro. They had been THAT close?

Ro suddenly swerved the car to the right to avoid a motorcycle roaring up the driveway. All Kit could see of the driver was a flash of dark hair and a leather jacket.

"Damn Logan, learn to drive." Ro said as she recovered. "I swear I am going to take the keys of that thing away from him."

Kit chuckled. It seemed she wasn't the only one on people's bad side this morning.

"So tell me about this Logan guy. I seem to have been dumped in his fan club or something at least that is what Bobby said last night."

Ro laughed. "I guess you did. Both Marie and Jubilee have been saved by Logan several times. Marie and Logan came to us at the same time, and they have been close since. She had a crush on him at one point, but seems to be over it, especially since she and Bobby have been so close. Now I think she just sees Logan as a big brother or father figure. Jubilee is well, rambunctious to say the least, and Logan treats her as a kid to be protected from herself. Those two are the closest thing to family Logan has."

"So Bobby told me there is a self defense class?" Kit asked

"Yes and I am thinking about having you join it, at least the beginner class. I will let you know." Ro pulled away from the stoplight they were sitting at. The two women drove straight to the Salem Center Mall. Kit looked down at her hands as Ro pulled into a parking space.

"I don't have any money, Ms. Monroe." Kit said. "I don't even have my ATM card and even if I did, well I don't have much in my account. I mean, my dad is a farmer, and maybe the farm is worth a lot, but we don't see much cash."

"Don't worry about it. The school will take care of it, you can pay us back if you feel the need, but it isn't necessary." Ro opened the door. "Please, Kit, let us help you."

Kit opened the door, and got out of the car. She followed Ro into the mall. She slowly relaxed through the morning. She refused to look at anything but what was on clearance, even though Ro tried to get her to look at other things. She managed to put together a few outfits for every day, and found some necessities on a really good sale. She could tell Ro was getting frustrated with her but she just couldn't allow these people to spend a bunch of money on her. She would get by on what she found. She wasn't big on style anyway. After the fifth store, Ro seemed distracted.

They stopped at the food court, Ro reached into her purse and handed Kit some cash. "Here, you do some shopping on your own; I have some things I need to buy for the school anyway. Meet me back here in an hour."

Kit wandered around the mall, mostly window shopping. She found a few good sales but nothing that appealed to her. Finally she went back to the food court where she was supposed to meet Ro. Her stomach growled and she remembered she still hadn't eaten anything.

She was sitting at one of the tables, a greasy slice of pizza in front of her when Ro showed up, carrying a bunch of bags from different stores. "That looks good. Be right back."

"So how long do you think I will be here, Ms. Monroe?" She asked as Ro sat down.

"I don't know." She put the pizza on the table, a paper cup with a plastic lid next to it. "I called the police, but they haven't seen any sign of him, and we don't want to send you back until he is in custody, or we are certain he has moved on."

Kit could tell she wasn't telling her something, and was getting tired of people protecting her. "You know, I am not exactly one of your kids at the school. I have been on my own in college for two years; I have dealt with drunks and overzealous frat boys. If there is something you aren't telling me, please, don't treat me like a kid."

"I wish there were more to tell you. Creed isn't an easy mutant to track. Without Professor Xavier to run Cerebro, we have no way of tracking him right now. Logan wants to go out there and try to track him his way, but the encounters we know of between the two of them, well Logan has always come out the worse for wear, and I need him at the school right now, not running around in backwoods Oklahoma."

"Creed, I thought you said his name is Sabertooth?"

"His name is Victor Creed. He goes by Sabertooth."

"Oh." Kit sat quietly for a moment, and then picked up her cooling slice of pizza. At least Ro had been honest.

The two of them ate quietly, and then headed out to the car. Ro loaded all the bags in the trunk and they got in. "You are going to need more clothes than what you bought, Kit."

"I can do laundry, and I didn't have a whole lot to begin with. I am going to call my roommate from school and see if she can send my stuff from the dorm that should get me through."

"That is a good idea. I don't know why I didn't think of that yesterday when we were calling the school."

"Dad gave me a cell phone; I left it in the room. I hate using it. I know he can't afford to pay the bill."

"Actually, that was your mother's cell phone, and the school pays the bill on it." Ro said.

"What?"

"I told you, she and Hank are old friends, and she has helped us out a time or two, so we keep her on as a consultant, and that justifies the phone if she needs it."

"So I can use the phone, and Dad won't have to pay for it."

"Just don't go crazy with it, but we have a huge pool of shared minutes, so you should be able to use it without raising the cell phone bill."

"Thanks. I really do mean it. You have all been so nice, I just am not used to change, and not being able to make my own choices. This is blowing my five year plan out of the water and I just am not sure I am going to be able to get back on track."

"Kit, you are going to have to learn to adapt to change. It is one of the few constants in life." Ro said, a little sadly. They turned into the drive, and the gates opened. "That's alright, I understand completely. I am the same way. I have to be in control of my destiny, I have just learned that change happens, and you have to adapt the destiny to what happens. We don't live in a vacuum, other people affect us, weather we want them to or not."

They unpacked the trunk and Kit started up the steps with her few bags. "Wait." Ro reached out and handed her another stack of bags. "I bought these for you. Don't argue, you are going to need to be comfortable. Summer is coming and you didn't seem to be thinking about it. I picked out a couple swim suits for you, we have a pool out back, it is heated, so you can swim anytime. Your mother said you won a scholarship for swimming, and you are going to have to stay in shape if you are going to try for the swim team here."

Kit took the bags from her, and then hugged her. "You have all been so nice, and I have been a total bitch. I am sorry." She was crying.

"Just relax, you will be fine." Ro picked up the rest of the bags. "Don't forget, you have an appointment this afternoon."

Kit smiled and walked into the entrance of the mansion. Lingering by the door, again, was the smell of cigars and leather. For some reason it made the place feel almost like home. She could close her eyes and see her father standing there, leaning on the stone wall. She looked down and saw the stub of a cigar, still smoldering. Yes, this place was starting to feel like home.

She climbed the stairs and went to the room she shared with the two girls. She started to put away the things in the bag. There were three closets in the room, but none of them were empty. The clothes were too small for Marie, so she guessed Jubilee managed to take up two whole closets by herself. There was space in the chest of drawers near her bed so she started folding things and putting them in there. She was startled by a buzzing sound. She looked around the room trying to find it, and then laughed. The cell phone on her nightstand was bouncing around.

"Guess it is on vibrate." She laughed.

"Hello." She said into the phone.

"Hi, honey, how are you doing?" Her mom's voice came through the phone.

"Ok, I guess." She sat down on the bed, pushing the piles of shopping bags out of her way. "Why didn't you tell me you knew a big blue guy? He scared the hell out of me this morning."

Her mom laughed. "Hank is kind of hard to explain, and when I knew him he wasn't blue. I hope you were nice to him. He really is a very good friend, and a very good doctor."

"Yea, Ro told me how good a friend he was. She said he could have been my dad."

"Well, not really, but it was going that way, before I met your dad."

"I am going to have to apologize this afternoon, I was kinda rude to him. I am sorry mom."

"You will be fine. Your grandmother picked up Mia this afternoon. I don't know what has gotten into that girl lately. She has been so quiet and moody, running off into the woods for no reason, shirking her chores."

"Well, she really wanted to get to school, and being stuck there is kinda hard on her. I hope she will listen to what I said and put in a financial aid form or something." Kit played with one of the bags. "How was Grams? I haven't seen her in forever."

"She was fine. She was worried about you more than Mia, but we all are. You take care of yourself, and don't leave the school unless someone is with you. If this guy is after you, and if he is as bad a person as Ororo said on the phone, he may figure out we sent you there, and try to get to you."

"Mom, could you call Stacy and have her send my stuff from the dorm. Ms. Monroe bought me some stuff at the mall, but I hate taking anything else from them after they have been so nice."

"I called her first thing. Your dad gave her the farm's FedEx account number and you should get them tomorrow or the next day."

"Thanks, Mom." Kit stood up. "I need to go get this stuff put away, and then I kinda need to go find someone else to apologize to. I will call you later."

"I miss you, honey." Her mom hung up the phone. Kit folded the cell phone and set it down on the night stand. Someone cleared their throat behind her. She turned around and saw Bobby in the doorway.

"Sorry about this morning…" Kit started, "I was a jerk." Bobby finished. They both laughed.

"I am really sorry, Bobby. You and Marie have been so nice, and I was a total bitch this morning."

"Forget it, we all have bad days. I just didn't realize you weren't a mutant, it kinda took me by surprise." He walked across the room and put a piece of paper on Marie's desk.

"Lunch is ready if you are hungry." He said. "Would you make sure she gets that. We had a date tonight, but Logan wants to do an extra Danger Room session if we are going to have to deal with Sabertooth. He wants her there too, even if her powers are still on again off again."

"Sure." Kit said. "I had lunch at the mall, so I am not hungry but thanks. Any idea when Hank will be back? I have an appointment with him this afternoon."

"He should be back around one o'clock he said."

"Great, thanks, and really, I am sorry about this morning."

He put his hand on the door knob. "Want me to shut it?"

"Yea, thanks. I could use some alone time." He pulled the door closed as she opened another shopping bag and started folding the shirt she pulled out.

She slowly put away everything she bought, and then started to go through the bags Ro had given her. "God does she think I am going out on dates or something." She said to herself as she pulled out a skirt and blouse that matched then a dress, and another skirt, two pair of nice slacks and dress tops. Ro had even bought shoes, something Kit had forgotten. She folded everything up neatly, and when she was done, two drawers in the chest were full. The shoes were lying out neatly under the edge of her bed. They had managed to buy enough clothes to last her a week without laundry and without wearing the dressier stuff Ro had bought.

Kit stripped out of the sweats she was still wearing and put on a T-shirt and jeans she had bought. At least this outfit she had picked out herself. She felt better, wearing something she had chosen. She slipped on the boat shoes Ro had bought. She looked around her section of the room. There was a small chest, the twin bed, nightstand and a small computer stand with a network hookup on the wall. Kit groaned. Her laptop was trashed. She had bought that out of the little bit of financial aid she got this semester, because the computer labs on campus were always packed. Now it was gone. She didn't know how she was going to replace it. Maybe she could get a job over the summer or something.

She walked over to the window, thinking about her laptop. She looked out without really seeing, until movement caught her eye. She saw a guy in a leather jacket, with dark hair walking across the side yard toward what looked like three monuments or memorials. She watched as he reached them. He stood in front of one, his back to her in the window. He bent over and dropped something on the ground. She watched him stand there, his shoulders slumped, not really sure why she felt like she was watching something important.

There was a streak of yellow off to one side, and then her roommate, Jubilee ran up to him. Kit watched as Jubes tried to get him to come back to the house, She pulled on his arm, and Kit could tell she was giving him a hard time, trying to make him laugh, but he just shrugged and walked into the forest. Jubilee stood there for a few minutes, then kicked the stone in front of her. She hopped on one foot for a moment, and then started limping back to the main building.

Kit turned back into the room. "Guess I am not the only one having a bad day." She said. She didn't know who the guy was, but if Jubilee couldn't get him to laugh, he had to be having a worse day than she had. She sat on the bed, wishing she had bought a cheap CD player or something. She was bored but didn't want to cause any trouble by exploring. Jubilee came into the room a few minutes later, and sat down hard on her bed.

"You ok." Kit asked as she pulled off her shoe and looked at her toes.

"Yea, just never kick a dead woman in the head, it hurts like hell."

"That sounds like sound advice." Kit said laughing. "But why did you kick a dead woman?"

"Cuz she keeps hurting Wolvie, and I am sick of it. She's been dead six months, and I can't even get him to SMILE. I am kinda missing his smart ass mouth too, giving me shit, and stuff. Hell, he's here but I think he is further away than when he runs."

"Well, you know, the dead are kinda hard to change, they are dead." Kit said.

"Yea, I know." Jubilee rubbed her toes. "Ro said Hank is ready to see you now. That's what I was supposed to come up here and tell you." She slipped her shoe back on. "Come on, the lower levels are kinda confusing if you don't know your way around."

"Lower levels. This place is confusing enough as it is…you mean there is more?" Kit said as she followed the yellow trench coat down the main stairs.

"Yep, a couple of sub floors underneath. Students usually only get to go to the first basement; I haven't been down lower than that. Hank has his office and the medical facility down there, or we wouldn't even be allowed that far.

She touched a button, and a panel of the wall slid open to reveal an elevator. Both of them stepped into the elevator and Jubilee pushed a button. The floor dropped a bit and then stopped. When the doors opened, the hallway was a dark grey metal, with doors and other hallways branching off of it.

"Hank's office is at the end of the hall, last door on the left. I have to get to class, see ya later." The elevator door closed behind Kit. She walked slowly down the imposing hallway. Some of the doors were open, in one there were lit compartments with what looked like leather suits in each one. All of the doors had a strange logo, a big circle with an X in the middle of it.

She finally arrived at her destination, the door was open and Hank was sitting behind a desk, a white lab coat over his dress shirt, the jacket to the suit hanging on a coat rack nearby. He was looking at a folder.

"I am sorry about earlier." She said quietly, as she entered the room. "I am just not used to mutants."

"Good gracious, nothing to apologize for. It must have been quite a shock for you." Hank said as he stood up, motioning her to a chair in front of the desk.

She sat down, and waited as he went back to the folder. "Well, that confirmed it. It was Sabertooth that attacked the house. We have samples of his DNA on file and the tests just came back."

"So, now what?" She asked.

"Well, now, as you say, we will start trying to determine his intentions, whom his compatriots are, and try to ascertain the best course of action." Hank grinned at her, his teeth gleaming white against his blue lips. "But you will undergo a few minor tests and a full blood panel so we have a baseline medical profile on you."

He stood up and held out a hand to her. She took it, this time and he led her into an exam room.

"Roll up your sleeve. I am going to draw some blood, and then I want you to get undressed and put on that gown. I will have Ro come in and take you down to the CT scan machine. Once we get a good blood panel and a baseline CT scan that should be all we need. You are current on your annual examinations, and vaccinations?"

"Yes, I told Ro I can have the school clinic at the university send my medical records if you need them." Kit said.

"That would be most helpful, and thank you for suggesting that." Hank said, as he prepared the needle. Kit looked away as he found a vein and winced at the prick of the needle. She hated needles.

"There, all done." Hank said. She looked at his gentle blue face and wondered just what had bothered her in the first place. She reached up and gave him a hug.

"From mom." She said in his ear.

He pulled back from her, and she thought she saw a small trail of moisture from one of his eyes. "Thank you. Next time you speak to her, tell her thank you. She will know what for."

He left the room and pulled the door closed behind him. She stripped down and pulled on the hospital gown that was lying on the exam table. A few minutes later, there was a light knock on the door, and Ro walked in. "This won't hurt a bit, I promise." She smiled.

After Kit was done with all the tests they wanted her to do, she dressed and went back upstairs. Kids were moving through the hallways as she exited the elevator, and she tried to navigate between them and get to the stairs. She just wanted to get to her room. Suddenly something soft brushed against her back and she turned around. There was a guy with huge wings on his back, feathered wings.

"Uhh, sorry." He said.

"No problem." She was getting used to this. Maybe it wasn't so bad being here. She made it to the stairs and climbed to the second floor. The door to her room was open; probably one of the girls was back. She walked in, and saw a guy in a flannel shirt standing by Marie's desk. He started to turn around as she walked in.

"Have you seen Marie?" His voice was low as he asked over his shoulder.

"Not since she went to class this morning." Kit said as she walked to her part of the room.

"She should have been back by now." He said, turning to face her.

His dark hair tapered to thick mutton chop sideburns on his face, with two points on top that Kit thought looked like he had been pulling his hair for some reason. His blue eyes were clouded, and his rugged face seemed pulled into a scowl by gravity or some deep sorrow. He wasn't as tall as Kit, and she thought she was short at five foot five. He had an unlit cigar in his mouth and she could smell stale smoke clinging to him from across the room.

"You're the new kid." It was a statement not a question.

"If you can call twenty being a kid, yea."

He gave a chuckle that sounded more like a snort. He walked up to her, and looked her straight in the eye. "Kid, I call Ro a kid half the time, get used to it."

"My name's Kit, not Kid."

"Like we don't have enough of those around here, kid."

He cocked his head to one side and gave her a good once over with his eyes. He stepped closer, making her uncomfortable. He might not be tall, but he was stocky, and from his movements knew how to take care of himself.

"You really do have personal space issues don't you." She said as he stepped even closer. She put up a hand to stop him. He was less than a foot away, looking her straight in the eye now.

"Naa," he said around his cigar. "It's all my personal space."

She had to smile. He was just so damned cocky. "Well, I guess I am going to have to wear a hula hoop or something to define my space around you, jerk."

He backed up a step, his eyes crinkling up in a smile that didn't grace his lips. "Smart mouth, I like that. You got guts kid; I intimidate most kids 'round here. Ro wants me to include ya in the self defense classes. And we are gona have to come up with something other than Kit. With Kitty around it is gona get confusin'"

"Tough shit; I have been Kit since I came home from the hospital."

"Is it short for somethin?"

"Marquette."

"Hrmmm." It sounded more like a low growl that vibrated down to her feet. "We'll have to come up with somethin."

"Tell Rogue Danger Room, nineteen hundred." He said as he stepped away from her and walked toward the door.

"Hey, speaking of names, I can't keep calling you jerk….Jerk."

"Logan." He said over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.

"Hrmph…wonder why he has a fan club." She muttered as she sat on the bed.

""Cuz of my winnin personality." She heard from the hallway. Damn he had good ears.

She flopped on the bed, the smell of stale cigar smoke lingering in the room. She closed her eyes and could almost imagine her father there with her. It was funny, when she was away at school she had missed her mom, but now, when there was any form of danger, and the man that just walked out of her room was definitely danger, she wanted her daddy. Her daddy would definitely have a few things to say about him. He had always intimidated the boys she had dated, not that there had been that many, but she wasn't sure what would happen if she came home with a man like that. Where had that thought come from? She walked over to the door and closed it.

She lay there quietly, listening to the pulse of the school. Classes seemed to change every forty five minutes or so, with five minutes of hustle and bustle before things settled down again. She closed her eyes, wishing again she had bought a CD player or something, and the pulse of the school lulled her to sleep.

She opened her eyes when the door burst open and Marie rushed in. "Hey, have ya seen Logan or Bobby around?" She asked as Kit sat up.

"Both of them were by looking for you; something about a 'Danger Room session'. Bobby left a note on your desk." Kit said as Marie dropped her backpack on her bed.

"Great, just what Ah need. Do ya know how ta use a computer?" Marie asked.

"Yea…I grew up on a farm but I am not a dunce." Kit said, voice dripping sarcasm.

"Sorry. Ah am just in a rush. One of my professors gave out this huge assignment and Ah ain't gona have time ta get the websites up before Ah got ta get changed and down ta the Danger Room." She was pulling a slim laptop out of her backpack. Kit cringed remembering hers crushed on her bedroom floor. "Can Ah get ya ta pull up some info for me and print it out."

"Sure." Kit got up and walked across to Marie's desk. The syllabus said 'Ethics of Law:" and the paper topic said 'Mutant Legality: Human Rights, Do they Apply?' There was a long list of websites underneath. "And sorry about snapping at you, it has been a really bad day."

"Trust me, shug, Ah understand. If ya would pull those up and print em I would be much obliged." Marie said as she opened one of the three closets. She pulled what looked like a leather outfit with a big X on the front out and started changing. "Why tha hell Logan is callin extra trainin sessions Ah don't know…." She said as she pulled her T shirt over her head. Kit sat at the desk and plugged in the network cable. The computer booted right up, and on the wallpaper was a picture of Marie and Logan and Jubilee laughing.

"Hey before you go, could you explain something to me." Kit asked.

"Shoot, shug." Marie said as she zipped up the leather outfit.

"What is the deal with this Logan guy, I mean he seemed like a real jerk when he came in here looking for you?"

"He has saved mah butt on more than one occasion…guess when ya owe someone yu're life on a regular basis, ya kinda get used ta em." Marie ran for the door, pulling on leather gloves as she went. "Give him time, shug, he'll grow on ya."

Kit turned back to the computer screen and pulled up internet explorer. She pulled up the first site and started reading as the printer spit out page after page. Soon she was engrossed. Her major was sociology, and the things she was reading seemed to just fit right in with what she was studying. She didn't even notice when Jubilee came in and grabbed her CD player. Site after site scrolled past her eyes as she became aware of a huge issue. People really wanted to say mutants didn't have the same rights as non mutants. She read until her stomach growled so loudly it distracted her. They had never covered these types of issues where she went to school. Maybe it was the fact that there were more mutants here, but Kit's eyes had been opened to something she wanted to explore further.

She heard noises from out in the hall and realized everyone was heading downstairs. She could smell food cooking and realized it must be dinner time. She followed the crowd downstairs to the dining room. Everyone stood in a line. It looked like buffet style so she grabbed a plate when her turn came and filled it up. Roast beef, brussels spouts, potatoes and carrots, and apple pie for dessert. Her diet was shot today, but what the hell.

She looked around the room; people seemed to be clumped together in groups. She didn't see anyone she recognized so she found and empty spot at the end of a table and sat down. A few minutes later Ro sat down next to her, a full plate in her hand. "Mind if I join you?"

"Sure." Kit said.

"After dinner, Hank and I would like to talk to you about something we found in your medical tests." Ro said as she cut her roast beef.

"Not a problem, I hope."

"No. There were just some abnormal readings in your blood panel but it is nothing to worry about."

Kit stared at her plate; she wasn't that sure she was hungry anymore.

"Really, it is nothing to worry about." Ro said as she continued to eat. Kit picked her fork back up and started eating. "So how has your first day been?"

"Rough." Kit said, honestly.

"I am sorry. I hope it only gets better from here." Ro looked up at a noise from the door. Six people walked in, all dressed in leather outfits. Marie, Bobby and that Logan guy were the first three, followed by a girl with long brown hair, a big guy, and of all people Hank. They all grabbed plates and walked over to where she and Ro were sitting. Kit couldn't believe how great the guys all looked in those leather outfits, Hank and Logan in particular.

"Kit, I would like you to meet the X-men." Ro said as they sat down around her.

"X-men?" Kit had heard of that group. They were superheroes or something.

"Yep, that'd be us." Logan said as he pulled out a cigar.

"Not in the house, Logan." Ro said.

"Come on, rough session." He said.

"Outside."

He just growled at her and slipped it back in the pocket it came out of. Kit noticed that the gloves on his hands had three strange slits across the knuckles.

"Goin' back in after dinner. These kid's stomachs were growlin so loud I couldn't hear the damned simulation."

"Ya mean your stomach…" Marie teased Logan.

"Watch it kid."

"Hank and I need to talk to Kit after dinner, Logan. Can you run the simulation with five?" Ro said.

"Yea…wait do ya think Warren is up ta joinin us?"

"That might not be a bad idea." Ro said.

Kit sat and watched these people interact. All around her, kids and adults seemed relaxed, at peace with themselves, even though she could tell that all six of the 'X-men' were tired and sweaty. Hank's blue hair was plastered down. He winked at her as she looked around the table. She smiled back at him. Whatever they had to talk to her about, couldn't be that bad.

The group laughed around her, all but Logan, who ate quickly and seemed to be in a hurry to get back to whatever they had been doing. Marie and Bobby teased her about her reaction to Hank and introduced the other two, Peter, the big guy, and Kitty, the one Logan didn't want to confuse her with. They all seemed to be trying to put her at ease, except Logan, he didn't say a word, just pushed his chair back and that seemed to be a signal to the rest of the team. They stood up and left their plates on the table, empty as if a plague of locusts had swept across the table. Logan pointed his finger at the boy with wings, and he stood up and followed the rest of them out of the room. Logan turned at the door, "Kid, you are in second period self defense class tomorrow morning, eight am sharp."

Kit looked up at him and nodded. "Jerk" she muttered under her breath.

He moved like lightning, leaning over the table in front of her, eyes level with hers, both hands, fists down on the table on either side of her plate. The plates and silverware jumped on the table and she thought she heard the sound of a knife being drawn. "I thought we settled that. It's Logan."

"No, you told me your name, I never said I would use it." She replied. "Besides, if the foe shits…."

He grinned at her, and she heard a strange sound, like blades being drawn through wood. He stood up, and there were six small holes, three on either side of her plate, in the table. That was a little scary.

"Smart ass." He said as he walked off.

Marie grinned at her, and everyone else around them laughed. "Damn, Kit that was the first time Ah seen him smile in months." It seemed Kit won round one.

She finished her dinner, and then she, Ro and Hank walked to Ro's office.

"Ok, so what is going on?"

"It appears there was a small surprise in your genetic workup, Miss Jamison. A little thing we call the X factor. It appears you are a mutant. What type of mutant we don't know, but a mutant none the less." Hank said, almost beaming.

"Somehow I am not surprised." Kit said as she sat there. It was starting to make sense. The attack on her house was because she was a mutant. Her family was in danger because she was a mutant. It really was all her fault.

She closed her eyes, trying to stop they cycle of guilt, something she knew she had to do and suddenly she saw something strange. She could tell Hank was reaching over to her. She could see streams of light that seemed to be contained in an arm like shape. Suddenly, the streams left his arm, and flowed into hers. It felt like an electrical tingle.

She opened her eyes and looked at Hank. "Did you feel that?" She asked. She had felt something like it once before. She had been walking across campus with a friend when two drunken frat boys had accosted them. Her friend was a black belt in Karate and had fought them off, but while she was moving, Kit had cringed behind her, her eyes closed, somehow she still SAW what her friend had done, and felt that tingle and she never told anyone, but later in the dorm she started practicing the moves her friend had used, and she had KNOWN them, deep in her muscles. Almost as if she knew what her friend had known, after years of training.

"Indeed I did, an electrical stimulation at a sub muscular level." Hank replied. She told them about what had happened on campus, and that she had never forgotten the Karate moves, and still practiced them when she was alone. She was afraid if she didn't practice, she would forget them, and after that attack, she wanted to be able to protect herself.

"Well that certainly gives me an idea of what you might be capable of doing." Hank said. "Have you ever heard of Kinesthetic Memory?"

"Yea…in my drama class" Kit said "they were teaching stage combat, and the teacher said we had to practice the moves one at a time till we could do them with our eyes closed and without thinking about them. Our muscles would remember the moves; it was called Kinesthetic Memory, or muscle memory."

"I believe what happened was your body reading my kinesthetic memory, and then grafting it onto your own muscles. I would like to see this in action. If you don't mind, Ro I would like to interrupt the Danger Room session and borrow Logan for this."

Hank stood up and held out a hand to Kit. She took his hand and stood up. She followed him to the elevator and down the hallway when they came out. He led her to a gymnasium with a pad on the floor, and weights and exercise gear around the edges of the room. She stood there, in the middle of the room, still trying to absorb what she had just been told. Logan walked in a few minutes later.

"Now, what the hell is so damned important ya dragged me out of the Danger Room?"

"I want to try an experiment." Hank said.

"NOW!" Logan shouted. "I gotta get these kids ready in case fang face shows up, and you want to run experiments?"

"We need to find out exactly what Kit's mutation is. I have an idea, but I need you to help pin it down."

"I coulda told ya she was a mutie if ya had asked, fur face." Logan looked over at her. She could tell he didn't want to be there. "Can't we do this in the mornin?"

"No Logan, that wouldn't be prudent, as this manifestation is very recent and expeditious discovery will circumvent possible indelicate results of self exploration."

"What do ya need me ta do fur face." Logan was very irritated.

"Would you show her one of your katas? Slowly so she can watch and try to duplicate it, but only once. If what I believe is true, she will not need more than one walk through."

"What? You dragged me in here for that. It could'a waited till tomorrow's class."

"Please, Logan."

"Fine; just ta shut ya up." He walked over to where Kit was standing.

"I am only gona do this once so pay attention. If fur butt over there thinks you can get it in one take, fine." He stood in front of her in a classic fight stance, feet shoulder with apart, weight centered, balanced on his feet like a dancer. Kit closed her eyes. She could see the electrical impulses flowing through his body. They flowed across the few feet separating them and her entire body tingled. It was almost an erotic tingling, and then he started to move, and her body followed him, no matched him move for move, like a mirror. It was like a dance, graceful, and deadly.

When she opened her eyes, he had the strangest look on his face. "What the hell was that?" He asked Hank over his shoulder.

"She reads kinesthetic memory." Hank replied. He was at a desk Kit hadn't noticed in the room. "It really is amazing. I was able to record it. It was like every move you made flowed to her before you made it. It was like watching you do that kata to a mirror."

"Hrmmm….Well kid, sounds like ya just got yer name…Mirror. At least I won't get you and Kitty mixed up. And don't think ye're usin that in class tomorrow. Ye're gona learn the hard way, or I am gona knock ya on yer ass." He turned and walked from the room, his shoulders set in an angry line, one hand on the door frame, the other clenched at his side.

Kit didn't know what she had done to upset him. She felt tears flowing down her face. She didn't understand what had just happened, but somehow she knew it was important. She felt the emotions of the day, and somehow, a strange drain on her body and started to sway on her feet. Hank stood up and walked over to her. He pulled her against his big chest and let her just collapse. And she did, right into unconsciousness. It had really been a rough day.

**ROCK AND ROLL DREAMS COME THROUGH**

You can't run away forever  
But there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start  
You want to shut out the night, you want to shut down the sun  
You want to shut away the pieces of a broken heart  
Think of how we'd lay down together  
We'd be listening to the radio so loud and so strong  
Every golden nugget coming like a gift of the gods  
Someone must have blessed us when he gave us those songs

I treasure your love, I never want to lose it  
You've been through the fires of hell  
And I know you've got the ashes to prove it  
I treasure your love, I want to show you how to use it  
You've been through a lot of pain in the dirt  
And I know you've got the scars to prove it  
Remember everything that I told you, and I'm telling you again that it's true  
When you're alone and afraid, and you're completely amazed  
To find there's nothing anybody can do  
Keep on believing, and you'll discover baby

There's always something magic, there's always something new  
And when you really really need it the most  
That's when rock and roll dreams come through  
The beat is yours forever, the beat is always true  
And when you really really need it the most  
That's when rock and roll dreams come through for you

Once upon a time was a backbeat, once upon a time all the chords came to life And the angels had guitars even before they had wings  
If you hold onto a chorus you can get through the night

Remember everything that I told you, and I'm telling you again that it's true  
You're never alone cause you can put on the phones  
And let the drummer tell your heart what to do  
Keep on believing, and you'll discover baby 

There's always something magic, there's always something new   
And when you really really need it the most  
That's when rock and roll dreams come through  
The beat is yours forever, the beat is always true  
And when you really really need it the most   
That's when rock and roll dreams come through for you


	4. It Just Won't Quit

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

A/N: This was hard, lets face it the inside of Logan's head isn't pretty on the best of days, and this is definitely NOT one of his best days.

Chapter 4

He walked out of the gym, cursing under his breath. Where had she come from? How the hell did she blindside him like that. One minute she was just another kid, in trouble, with the worst son of a bitch he knew after her, next thing he knows she is moving with a grace he couldn't remember seeing before, a grace that made him think of other things she could be doing with that body. Things he hadn't even THOUGHT of in six months.

What the hell right did he have to be thinking things like that? Jean hadn't been in the ground more than six months. He still loved her; still dreamed about her every night. That night in the lab, after they brought her back from Alkali Lake; God he still could taste her, smell her, feel her hands, her need. He had stopped it, but he hadn't wanted to, but he had had to know about Scooter, what had happened to him. He still woke up every night, tears streaming, just as he slid his claws into her body. He had killed the woman he loved; and somehow, deep down he knew it wasn't the first time; he had no RIGHT reacting to some kid that way. She wasn't Jean. He punched the wall outside the Danger Room.

She should be scared of him. He should intimidate the hell out of her. Hell, if he was in a really bad mood he admitted he intimidated himself sometimes. If she was smart, she would run…fast… in the opposite direction. For some reason, the Wolverine was waking up, and that could only mean trouble.

He heard Hank come out of the gym and looked back. She was draped over his arms, out cold.

"What the hell?" He turned around to help the blue guy, a sudden fierce protective urge hitting him.

"She passed out. I think it was just stress. Can you help me get her into med lab? She probably just needs sleep, but I want to make sure." Her head rested on Hank's shoulder as he carried her like a small child. Hell she was a small child, five foot five if she was an inch. He opened the door to the med lab and stood there as Hank lay her down on one of the beds.

"You got it?" He asked the doctor, from the door. Her light brown hair spilled over the white sheet on the bed.

"Yes, Logan, thank you for your assistance." Hank said as he pulled out a stethoscope. He stood there for a moment, watching the doctor check her over, holding himself back, and biting the growl that was forming in the back of his throat. For some reason he was having a problem with Hank touching her. Hank looked over at him in askance. He pulled the door to the room closed behind him.

He went back to the Danger Room, but the kids were out; standing in the hallway, waiting to see if he had any further instructions.

"That's enough for tonight. Double session tomorrow." He said as he headed to the elevator. He ran his hand over his face.

"Logan, wait a sec." Marie ran up to him. "Is it really Sabertooth?" He had smelled her fear through the sessions in the danger room, he understood why she was afraid but she was just going to have to deal with it.

"Yea, kid."

"Poor kid." Marie said. "And I had her helpin with mah homework." She was afraid for Kit, not herself. That surprised him. After what she had been through, after what Magneto and Sabertooth had put her through at Liberty Island, she was more afraid for Kit.

"Probably best thing for her, kid; keep things as normal as possible." He put a hand on her leather covered shoulder.

"Ya ok?" Marie looked at him sideways through her white streak.

"Yea kid, just gona go for a walk before bed. Never did get that smoke."

They stepped out of the elevator and he walked toward the front doors. Once outside he pulled out his cigar and lighter. He took a long drag, and started walking toward the memorials. He needed to talk to Jeanie about this. Hell, he needed Jeanie right now. He stopped in Ro's garden and cut a single rose, like he always did.

He stood in front of the stone with her name on it. He laid the rose at the base. Someday they were going to have to put in a bench, so he could sit and talk to her.

"Hey, Red." He waited like he always did, hoping for a response. Sometimes he could almost hear her on the breeze, but tonight it was calm, silent.

"You'd like this new kid. She's got spunk." He folded himself into a lotus position on the ground. "This damned suit ain't good for this, darlin', someday we are gona have to redesign these things."

"I don't know what to do, Red. I miss you more every day. I know you made yer choices, but I can't help how I feel. Couldn't help it when you were alive, not gona try now you're gone. And you can butt out over there, BoyScout." He glared at the stone on the other side of the Professor's.

"This new kid's got an interesting mutation, Red. You would like it. Damned if it didn't make her move kinda like you walkin down the stairs. All sexy and graceful and be damned if I didn't respond. I am sorry, darlin'. You are the only woman I want, but sometimes this old body doesn't listen really well. God, darlin' where'd she learn to move like that." He bowed his head as he talked to the stone.

"From you, Logan" He looked up. How had Ro snuck up on him like that?

"Damn it Ro, can't a man talk to his girl in private."

"Last time I checked, Logan, she wasn't your girl." Ro sat on the ground next to him. "She was his." She pointed at Scott's stone. "And will you quit pruning my roses for me. You are going to kill my American Beauty."

"Sorry, I will pick a different bush. As for the other, I know. She made that clear, but it don't stop how I felt, hell how I still feel."

"I know, Logan."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"What did you mean, she got it from me?" He looked over at Ro sitting quietly next to him, her hair fluttering in a rising breeze.

"When she picked up your muscle memory, she picked up your grace."

He snorted at her. "I ain't got a whole lot of grace, darlin'."

"You should watch you fight sometime. You look like you are dancing. It is the most graceful, beautiful, deadly dance I have ever watched. Sometimes I just go sit and watch when you are in the Danger Room. It makes me grateful you are on our side."

She stood up, and held out a hand to him. "Are you coming back to the house?"

"In a while, Ro, I still got some things to talk to Red about."

She dropped her hand and walked away.

He waited until he knew she couldn't hear him, and went back to his conversation with Jean. "I almost took Hank's hand off, Darlin. I don't know why I reacted like that, it ain't like she was you, or Marie, or even Jubes for that matter. Something about Hank touching her got my hair to stand on end, and I am feelin the Wolverine growlin around in here, and I don't like what he's feelin."

"Jean, Darlin, I ain't been able ta sleep much, ya know that. I keep dreamin about ya, about how ya taste, how ya smell. Then it all turns to hell, and I am smellin your blood, my claws stickin out of your back. I ain't sure how much more I can take, I can almost smell ya at times in the mansion, in rooms you spent a lot of time in, it's almost like your there, but then your gone. I can't take that you're gone." Tears were flowing down his cheeks, his eyes closed, her face burned on the inside of his eyelids. He felt the breeze brush against his cheek, but he kept his eyes closed; only wanting to see Jean.

He sat out there for hours, the cool evening air drying the sweat and tears. He slowly stood up, and walked back to the house. He knew he wouldn't get any sleep tonight. If it wasn't the nightmares, the reliving his personal hells, then it would be the erotic dreams of Jeanie. He couldn't win for loosing with sleep. He always came out the worse for wear.

He closed the door to his room and unzipped the uniform. When the hell had he taken sides? He thought back on it. He knew it had been when he looked into her flaming red eyes and saw them fade to the Jean he knew, the Jean who trusted in him. When she had looked him in the eyes, flames dying, and begged him to kill her, that was when he chose. He knew he couldn't fail her; she had trusted him to help take her place, to help take care of these kids, to fight the good fight. And he'd be damned if he didn't do it; he'd been here six months, he was teaching the younger kids to take care of themselves, to do what had to be done to protect those they cared about. Magneto had been right about the war, it was coming, and now he knew on which side he stood. The problem was, he wasn't sure he agreed with his own side. He was here for Jean, for Marie, for Jubilee, to take care of them, the two still breathing anyway. The rest were just getting on his nerves.

The urge to run was strong. To get away, to go where the only person he had to worry about was himself. But he couldn't. He couldn't disappoint his girl. She had trusted him, and that had to be enough. He dumped the sweaty uniform on the floor by the closet as he walked naked to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror. He looked tired, even with his healing factor, he looked bone tired. This staying in one place was getting to him. Making him old, or was that the grief, the worry, the caring about people doing it. He didn't know, didn't really care. If it hadn't been so late, he would have grabbed a pair of jeans and his jacket and headed into town for a drink, but the clock on his nightstand said 1:00. By the time he got there Hardcase would be closing up.

He stepped into a hot shower, letting the scalding water flow over his body. It felt good, that pain. Something he could control. God he hated letting others make his choices, his decisions for him. Ro picked the missions, she lead the school, she lead the team, but he lead in the field. She told him what to do and damned if he didn't have to tell them what to do. He missed the days when the only choices he had to make were how much cash to put on the fight, and which bar fly he was going to try to hook up with for a quick lay. He wasn't a leader, but they had him making hard choices, decisions for other people, He had been on his own for a long time, literally longer than he could remember. It was a strange thing for him to be a part of a group. He didn't want to be responsible; he didn't want to be in control of anything but himself. He felt the burning behind his eyes, the one he tried to ignore, "DAMN YOU, Jean." He said out loud in the shower, "I didn't want this." He leaned back and let the hot water flow over his head and face. Under the hot water, the tears could flow and no one would ever know.

He got out and toweled off, the scald burns healing as he ran the towel over his skin. He grabbed a pair of sweat pants to put by the bed in case he had to get up quick, walked to the door, and stood there with his hand on the lock. He had learned his lesson the hard way about the door when he had stabbed Marie. He had learned a lot of lessons from Marie. He didn't know how she did it, he didn't know what it was that made him pick up that kid on the road, but she had cracked something inside him, something he had worked hard to build up, something that he was trying hard to build up again. First Marie, then Jean, then the damned Firecracker, now this new kid; how the hell were they getting in, he was going to have to get that wall back up, caring about these kids was going to be the death of him. He flipped the lock, and with a click he was safe. He wasn't going to let anyone else come in unannounced, ever again.

He walked over to the bed and lay down, pulling the covers up over him. He had to try to get some sleep, he had the younger kids in the morning, and they were hopeless. He closed his eyes, concentrating on his breathing, in through the nose, out through the mouth, and again, and drifted slowly into a restful state. Mediation always helped a little, at least in getting TO sleep. He replayed each event on his eyelids, from the first moment in her lab, when he had grabbed her throat, to her slamming the closet doors with her mind, to her trying to read his mind, to her breezing past Scott in his bedroom door, to the look of concentration on her face on Liberty Island, to the soft way her hair framed her face when he woke up, to the moment when she walked down those stairs, before Alkali Lake, to the kiss, to her telling him that he could never be the 'good guy' to finding her breathing body on that strange lake shore, to the feel of her body under him in that lab, so close to what he wanted, and so far, to the feel of her lifeless body in his arms at Alcatraz. His meditation, his penance, his salvation; he drifted off into sleep.

When he opened his eyes, sunlight was peeking into his window, and the sheets were tangled around him on the bed. He had actually slept, and hard. He untangled himself from the sheets and sat up on the side of the bed, putting his feet on the floor. He sat there, elbows on his knees, head in his hands, rubbing his fingers over his sandpaper filled eyes. He hadn't slept more than an hour or two in months.

He looked over at the sheets on the bed; there were fresh stains, as always when he dreamed of Jean, but usually he woke up before that moment. He could almost smell her in the room with him. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what he had been dreaming about. If he could capture that dream, keep it close, maybe he could sleep again.

All he could remember was a feeling of peace, of rest. He knew there had been something more; something his mind wasn't letting him see. He could almost taste her lips, almost smell her need, almost feel her hands running over his body, but all he could feel was the afterglow, all he could see on the inside of his eyelids was a head lying on his shoulder, sleeping; tousled hair flowing across his chest. But something was wrong, the hair wasn't red, it was light brown.

"SHIT!" He jumped to his feet and grabbed the sweat pants from the floor. He looked at the clock. It clicked over to 6:09. He reached over and shut off the alarm. No need for it this morning. Maybe a good solo Danger Room session would get rid of this. He looked over at the crumpled uniform on the floor. No not this morning, he couldn't stomach putting that thing back on. He pulled a T-shirt out of the top drawer and pulled it over his head. He grabbed a pair of running shoes out of the closet. A run, that seemed like a good idea; he needed to run, run away from the guilt. Why the hell did he feel guilty? He hadn't dreamed of Jean, true, but why should he feel guilty for dreaming of someone else. It wasn't like he had made a commitment to her. He loved her, but damn it he was breathing, and male, and he'd be damned if he was going to feel guilty for that.

He opened the door quietly; no one else seemed to be up yet. He padded quietly down the hallway, and down the main stairs. He had almost reached the front door when he heard a noise behind him. He turned as the elevator doors opened and Hank stepped out. His hair looked like he had fallen asleep on his desk, again. His eyes were sleep fogged and Logan could tell by the way he moved that what sleep he had managed, had been in a very uncomfortable position.

"You ok, fur face?" Logan asked.

"Fine, I have just been monitoring Kit all night. She had a bad spell, sometime around two am. A dream of some sort I think. I had to sedate her." Hank sat down in one of the chairs in the entry hall, and leaned his head wearily against the paneling.

"Is the kid alright?" Logan walked over to Hank. He could smell her on Hank's hands, and he was trying hard to control the surge of anger at that.

"I don't know. I thought it was just stress, but her hormone levels are unusually high. I have only ever seen hormone and pheromone levels like this one other time in my life…" He drifted off a moment, and then shook his head as if something had occurred to him. "Once she settled down from the dream she had, she slept peacefully, which was surprising considering the last few days, but I can't seem to wake her this morning." He looked down at his large blue hands. Logan watched as his shoulders slumped. He had never seen Hank look like this, almost defeated. "Her pheromone and hormone levels dropped after the dream, however they are still extremely high, and I am going to have to contact her mother….." Hank seemed to drift off, almost as if he were seeing something that wasn't there. Something was bothering the big blue guy, but Logan had his own problems and really didn't feel like taking on any more.

"Why don't you get you some coffee?" Logan told Hank, shaking his shoulder to get his attention.

"I was planning on it. Ro is keeping an eye on Kit while I make a pot." Hank stood up and headed toward the kitchen. "Are you going to want some this morning?"

"Yea; after my run." Logan said as he opened the front door. He wasn't usually a big coffee drinker, but if it made the big guy feel better he could drink a cup. A sudden thought hit him. "Hey, it wasn't anything I did, was it; that hurt the kid? I mean when she absorbed whatever she absorbed last night?"

"I seriously doubt it." Hank said as he walked away. Logan still couldn't shake that somehow he was responsible for the kid being hurt.

Logan stepped out into the brisk morning air. He took off running down the driveway, and then down a path into the woods. This was what he needed this morning. Peace, quiet, nothing but him and the woods. He let his mind go blank, and just ran. The cool morning air was crisp in his lungs, and the woods smelled of the local small wildlife, and the small herd of deer that had moved in last fall. He considered trying to track them this morning, but decided to just keep running. He ended up where he always did, by Jean's stone. He had left Ro's garden alone this morning deciding instead on the simple spring wildflowers he had found in one of the clearings in the woods. He laid the daisy on the ground.

"Morning, Red." He said.

Silence was the only reply, the cool breeze just brushing his hair.

"I missed seeing you last night; not sure why I didn't. It ain't my fault; I am only an animal, like Stryker said. That kid, damn she got to me last night, hard. She isn't doing well this morning, Hank says. I know it was something I did, I just know it."

"We could really use you right now; you or the Professor, someone with your powers. Believe it or not, Red I am missin havin you damned telepaths getting inta my head."

"I don't know how long I am going ta be able ta stay here, Red. The urge to run is strong I need ya, Darlin, I think I am losin something and I am afraid. God, Jean you know how hard it is for me to admit that. I am afraid. I am losing myself, in you, in the school, in the team, I don't know if I can stand this. I keep looking for you. I swear I smell you sometimes, but you aren't there, I swear I can hear ya whispering in the wind, but even my hearin can't tell what ya are tryin ta say; and it is getting fainter, Darlin, every day. Someday I am going ta forget what ya smelled like, what ya sounded like, what ya looked like. Someday you'll be gone, and I will be alone again. I ain't sure which would be better, findin ya, bein alone, or joinin ya."

He stood there a few moments longer, tears quietly filling his eyes. He blinked a few times, to hold them back. The kids would be up and around soon, he didn't want them to see him crying. He walked slowly back to the house and went in the kitchen door. There was a cup sitting in front of the coffee pot, and a note, asking him to come down to med lab. He poured the coffee, and again wished Jean or the Professor was still around; he hated anyone in his head, but they sure did make communication a little easier.

He took his coffee and headed to the elevator; might as well get this over with quickly. He still had classes to teach.

He walked into Hank's office. Hank and Ro were in the middle of a discussion, and rolls of EKG and EEG readings were strewn across the desk.

"What's going on? Is Mirror ok?" He asked as he dropped into the chair. At least the blue butt had made a decent pot of coffee. He sipped on his coffee while the two of them looked at the readouts on the desk.

"Mirror?" Ro asked

"She moves like a mirror with that gift of hers, figured she would need a code name. It works." Damn the coffee was starting to cool. Ro shrugged.

"We don't really know. She woke up briefly, but went back to sleep, which I am taking as a good sign. Her brainwave patterns are undergoing a strange shift I don't understand. I somewhat expected the hormonal and pheromonal shifts, but not the brainwave patterns. I have never seen anything like that before. This is one of the times I wish we had a resident telepath..." Hank said.

"You and me both." Logan replied looking into the dark liquid in his cup.

They both looked at him in shock.

"You want a telepath around?" Ro asked, surprise written on her lovely face.

"Well, they do have their uses." He said as he drained the last of the barely warm liquid.

"That they do." Hank agreed.

"So does this have anything to do with me, or am I down here to just appreciate the view."

They both looked at him. "You asked this morning if it was your memories that affected her, and the definitive answer to that is no, however we are not entirely certain how this mutation works, and would like to plan further experiments, during your classes, for her to begin using and learning control of this gift." Ro said.

"Whatever you guys think is best." He tried to hide the tension in his shoulders. He was going to have to work with her, damn. At least it would be in classes with people around. He had no plans to spend any time alone with that kid, no Kit, no Mirror. He had to think of her as a possible team mate, not something else.

The phone on Hank's desk rang, and he answered. "Hello"

"Oh my stars and garters…I will be there posthaste."

"I am sorry, but I need to get to the UN. The subcommittee on human rights has called a meeting on mutant rights. I hate leaving, but this is an issue I have been keeping a close ocular orb on for quite some time."

"I can watch Kit, Hank. You don't think she is in any danger?" Ro said.

"No. I think it is just the shock of the last few days catching up with her, along with dealing with a mutation she didn't realize she had. When I return I will contact her mother and have her check…" Hank grabbed his jacket off the coat rack, his voice stopping mid sentence.

"Hey fur face, you might want to go get dressed first." Logan said, "That jacket doesn't go with the sweat pants." He chuckled into his empty cup. Hank was definitely flustered this morning, and something was bothering the big guy. Logan wasn't going to pass up a chance to rib him though, it was too damned much fun, and with Scooter gone, he just didn't have that many opportunities to piss people off, not and enjoy it.

Hank rushed out of the room.

"Logan." Ro said, reprovingly.

"What." He looked at her. "Is Mirror going ta make class today or not?"

"Not." Ro shot him a look of disgust. He sure as hell didn't want anyone to know just how damned concerned he really was.

"Well I better go shower and get ready. I got the young ones this morning."

"Logan…Hank and her mother were close, at one time. He feels responsible for her. Cut him a little slack."

Logan paused at the door and nodded. How close, he wondered?

He looked through the observation window to where the kid lay sleeping. Her hair was tousled and damp from sweat. Her face was turned away from the window, and the med lab sheet was twisted around her body. One leg lay bare and exposed from toe to hip, and he turned quickly away. Damn it. Whatever she was dreaming had her tied up in knots. Her scent came faintly through the door; he had noticed it yesterday, in Marie and Jubilee's room, fresh, clean, like the world after a cleansing rain. But now it was saturated with something else, arousal, frustration and anger along with it. Whatever she was dreaming wasn't pleasant. He watched her turn on the med lab bed, her breasts rising and falling under the thin sheet and hospital gown, the sheet sliding down onto the floor, leaving her lying in only the gown. As usual it was tied in the back, and when she turned her back was to him. Her bare back and legs, the edges of the gown and the loose ties draping down from her side, He gripped the frame of the window.

"Kit." He moaned. He shook his head "Mirror." He said, "Her name is Mirror." He groaned again as she moved, shifting one leg slightly in front of the other. He stepped back from the window, panting. His claws popped out of the hands at his side, causing him to snap out of whatever spell she had cast. He sheathed them quickly and sprinted down the hallway to the locker room. A cold shower was definitely on his agenda for this morning, now.

The morning went slowly. The kids were not in the mood to pay attention and he had to put a few of the older ones on their asses a few times. He wasn't in much better shape than the kids, his mind kept straying to the girl in the med lab, between two of his classes he had had to go and grab another cold shower. What the hell was going on?

By lunch he was ready to jump on his scoot and get the hell out of there for a while. He needed a drink, bad, cold showers weren't cutting it. Case opened at noon for the lunch crowd. He was in his room, changing into jeans and grabbing his jacket and keys when he heard a buzzing. He looked around his room, but it wasn't in there. He thought one of the kids must have left an alarm clock on or something and he would be dammed if he was going to let it give him a headache. Most of the kids were in class, so he followed the sound to Marie and Jubilee's room. On the nightstand next to the bed that already smelled like Kit, a phone was buzzing and vibrating. He probably shouldn't have, but he picked it up and answered it.

"Hello."

Silence for a second, he could hear someone breathing. "Hello." A girl's voice replied. "Is my sister around, Kit?"

"She is sleepin, at the moment. Who is this?"

"Mia. Who is this?"

"One of the teachers here."

"Is Kit ok?"

"Yea, just stress, nothin ta worry about. You alright kid?"

"I am fine, hey WHO is this?"

He paused, why was she so damned adamant to know who he was? He didn't see a problem telling her.

"Name's Logan."

"You take care of my sister. Do you hear me?" Mia's tone changed, from concern to something else, something vehement.

"We are." He replied.

"No, not we, YOU. You take care of my sister. YOU make sure she is ok." In the background he heard a deep growl, and what sounded like a deep male chuckle. The voice in the background whispered "Come back here, Darlin."

"Who is there with you?" He asked.

"Don't worry about it. Don't worry about me at all, YOU just worry about KIT, you got me. Your only concern is KIT. YOU just take care of my sister, or we are coming after you." She hung up the phone.

He sat there and stared at the phone in his hand for a second. He KNEW that growl and voice in the background. He had been so surprised by his voice that he hadn't even noticed his claws pop. What was Creed doing with the other girl? He looked down at the small drop of blood on the floor by Kit's bed. He sheathed his claws and went looking for Ro, his jacket and keys forgotten on the bed. There was a whole lot more to this than met the eye, and somehow he felt Kit would have the answers.

He walked into Hank's office but Ro wasn't there. He looked through the window, into the med lab but the bed was empty, a discarded medical gown laying on the rumpled sheet. He sniffed the air and caught a trace of Ro and Kit and followed it. It took him to the elevator, kids were scrambling to make it to afternoon classes, and he almost lost the scent in the scramble, but then he caught it again and followed it to the kitchen. They were sitting at the table. Kit had a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of her. He stood at the door. She was in a set of school sweats again; the hooded jacket zipped up to her chin. Thank God, he thought to himself, her scent was bad enough; exposed skin might just put him over the edge. He growled as he walked into the cluttered kitchen and threw the phone down on the table.

"Your sister just called, Mirror."

"What?"

"Her name's Mia, right?" He asked pulling out a chair from under the table and spinning it around on its back legs until the back was against the table edge.

"Yea, how was she? Did she say what was going on? Was anything wrong?" And why the hell did you answer my phone?"

"She sounded fine, and it was buzzin and giving me a headache. Either put turn on the ringer on that damned thing or carry it with ya. I hate phones on vibrate, they hurt. As for your sister, she needs to take better care of the company she keeps" Logan said as he sat down astride the chair.

"What do you mean, Logan?" Ro asked.

"I could hear Creed in the background. She didn't sound scared, or like she was a hostage, matter of fact it sounded like he was askin her ta come back ta bed. When she found out who I was she seemed more pissed off at me for some reason." He looked at Kit. "She told me to take care of you. She made sure that I knew that somehow she thinks I am personally ta take care of ya or they would come after me." He glared at the pale young woman across the table from him. "Mirror any idea what all of this is about?"

"No. I haven't seen much of Mia for the last two years or so since I graduated high school. I have been away at college. She was pissed off at me because I got to go and she had to wait. The last time I saw her, about a month ago, we had a huge fight over it. She was fine the other day, even got the whole family to go on a 'Family Bonding' night, which was why we weren't home when the house was trashed."

"Do you think she could be in cahoots with Creed?" Logan asked, he could tell she wasn't lying, but knew it wasn't the whole truth either.

"I doubt it, from what you guys have said about him, she would be scared shitless of him. Wait, if he was with her when she called, where was my Grandmother. She is supposed to be at Grams'" Logan smelled panic as Kit grabbed the phone and started dialing. He didn't know why, but he felt suddenly protective. He reached over and grabbed the phone from her hand.

"Why don't you let us check on it? You have had enough stress the last few days. We will let you know as soon as we find out anything. From what I heard, Creed sounded comfortable, so either your grandmother is fine, or she's dead. Either way, panic isn't going to solve it." Shit he just made it worse, panic was rolling off her in waves now. Her eyes were dilating, her breathing heavy, and her heart racing. The blood drained from her already pale face and she looked about to faint.

"Logan," Ro shouted at him. He looked at her, and she pointed at Kit. "Look what you have done. I can call her parents, you take Kit upstairs. She still needs to rest, but I think she would be more comfortable in her own bed."

"No, I need to know what is going on first." Kit said, her chin jutting stubbornly, she was chewing on her lip, and he could see her white knuckles where she was gripping the table, hard, trying to stay upright.

"All right," Ro said as she dialed the phone.

"Nancy, is everything alright there?"

"Fine" Logan could hear through the phone. "Is Kit ok?"

"Just tired from all the stress; we did find out that she is definitely a mutant, and what her mutation is. Hank said something about needing to talk to you about your notes from college, though."

"I was afraid of that. I will see if I can find my copy of my thesis and send it up to him." Kit's mother replied. Kit looked at Ro in askance; she couldn't hear both sides of the conversation.

"She just got a call from Mia, have you sent her to your mother's yet?"

"Yes, my mother picked her up while Kit was flying up there. Is Mia alright?"

Logan shook his head at Ro; there was no need to panic the girls' parents yet.

"She sounded fine on the phone, but I just wanted to check in with you. Is it alright if we call your mother's?"

"Of course, and let me know if anything is wrong." He could hear the concern in the woman's voice. He hoped everything was fine, several panic stricken females was not high on his list of favorite things to deal with.

"We will. Bye Nancy."

Ro hung up the phone. "Your grandmother picked your sister up while you were on the way up here. I am going to call there and check on her."

"The number is in the phone book, number pad 9 I think, under Gram." Kit said. She seemed a little calmer, knowing at least her parents and younger brothers were fine.

Ro pushed a few buttons on the phone key pad, and he heard the phone on the other end ringing. An older woman answered the phone.

"Hello, this is Ororo Monroe, from Xavier's Institute. Kit is staying with us, and I was checking on Mia. Kit was concerned. Is she alright?"

"She is fine. She ran into town to the grocery store this morning. She has been gone a while, I expect her back at any time. She has been a big help since she got here." Logan could hear something wrong in the woman's voice, she was tense, concerned, and she was hiding something.

"Kit really wanted to talk to her." Ro said. "Mia called a little while ago but Kit missed the call." He could hear a door open in the background, and the voice of the girl he had talked to earlier calling out she was home.

"She just walked in the door. Can I talk to my granddaughter?"

"Of course." Ro handed Kit the phone.

"Hi, Grams" Kit said. "Is everything ok there?"

"Just fine, hon; are you ok?"

"Yes. A little tired." He could tell she didn't want her grandmother to know what had been going on.

"Have you been sleeping ok?" Her grandmother asked.

"No, not really; I had strange dreams all night last night." Kit said, her voice trembled and she blushed a little as she said it, the color highlighting just how pale she was. Logan fought an urge to put his arms around her and hold her. He was looking straight at her and noticed her eyes darting around the room, looking at anything but him.

There was a deep chuckle from the older woman on the other end of the phone. "Dreaming about a man, huh?" Logan started and stared at the phone in Kit's hand. The old woman knew something.

"GRAMS…." Kit screeched, blush deepening.

"Honey, I may be old but I ain't dead." The old woman laughed. "I keep telling your sister the same thing. I remember what it was like to be your age. Hell, if you weren't dreaming of a man I would be worried. Men are a part of life, and for us the wilder the better. I just hope that this one is better than that wimp deputy you used ta date in high school. He was a dud."

"GRAMS!" She exclaimed. "You have been telling me that since I was old enough to date." Kit said, laughing, her body relaxed as she talked to the older woman.

"You take care, girl. Don't let this man tie you up in knots, you are strong, you can take anything life dishes out, Just because you are dreaming about him, just because you can't sleep, just because you are going ta be spending a while living under a cold shower, he ain't the center of the world. You REMEMBER it girl. What you are feeling, it is a part of your life. You got no choice about it. Someday you will understand, and I won't even have to say I told ya so, but don't let him take your dreams." Kit was blushing again, and looking anywhere but at him. He looked away, a little smile on his lips, so he wasn't the only one turning into a prune under cold water. Where the hell did that thought come from.

"Grams, I am so glad you are ok, can I talk to Mia now."

The sound of the phone being passed came through the speaker.

The girl from earlier spoke across the air waves, "Hi Kit. Are you ok?"

"Yea, sis; are you?"

"Yea." Logan could hear something in the background. It sounded like china breaking. "I just wanted to check on you, that guy that answered the phone said you were sleeping. I didn't want to wake you. You never sleep this late, are you sure you are ok?"

"You didn't wake me, I was up, he just didn't know it. I had a little spell last night, mostly stress, and ended up sleeping in the infirmary." Kit looked puzzled. "Who else is there with you? I can hear Grams talking to someone."

"Just my boyfriend; I do have one of those you know. He was worried about me so he drove over here. Grams is giving him hell cuz he broke one of her good cups. You know how she is about her good china." He could hear the light tone in the girl's voice. There didn't seem to be any fear on the other end of the phone.

Kit laughed nervously. "Well, you keep safe, sis." The waves of fear rolling off of her were putting Logan on his guard. He couldn't quite make out the conversation in the background of the phone it was just too far away. "And, make sure your boyfriend stays out of trouble, Grams will kill him if he breaks any more china. You know how Grams is about us and the guys we date, she is worse than Daddy."

"I will, sis. I am trying to talk Grams into letting him take me somewhere, away from all of this. It would be safer I think. Don't tell anyone but well he is kinda hot, and ummm, well, you know how Grams is about PDA in the house."

"I don't know about that, Mia, don't do anything stupid, please."

"I am NOT stupid, Kit. Just cuz you got to go to college doesn't mean I am stupid." She slammed down the phone loud enough that Logan winced.

"What did you hear?" Logan asked.

"I heard my Grams in the background, talking to some guy. She called him Vic." Kit said.

"Vic?" Ro asked.

"Yea, Vic, Victor Creed, Sabertooth." Logan said growling, he thought he had recognized the voice. "And he is at your grandmother's having tea."

"My God, Mia called him her boyfriend." Kit said, in shock.

"I heard."

"What?"

"Kid, I got super sharp hearing, part and parcel of the whole package. I could hear both sides of the conversation." Kit blushed, looking down at plate of cold eggs in front of her.

"Ro…I am going to pull a team, we can be there in two hours. If they don't know we are…."

"No, Logan. We are staying here. Kit is our concern, not Mia. I am sorry; Kit, but I can't jeopardize the team, not now. If your sister has thrown in with Creed, then there is nothing we can do. This will at least clear the farm; if Mia and Creed are together I doubt there will be another attack. I am going to call Nancy and let her know what is going on, but I think there are some things we don't know, and until we do, we shouldn't interfere."

Kit stood up, swaying "I am going to my room. This whole thing is making me sick."

"I will walk you." Logan said, standing up with her. She was shaking so hard she barely made it three feet before her knees gave out. He was right behind her and picked her up in his arms and carried her up the back stairs. She laid her head on his shoulder, her hair loose down his arm. He could feel it's silk brush against his arm with each step. He tried hard not to look down at her; this was too close to how his dream last night had started.

The door to her room was standing open. He carried her in and laid her down on her bed. His jacket and the keys to his scoot were laying there. He was definitely going to need that drink now.

"Sorry, guess I left them when I answered the phone." He said as he picked them up. She was looking at her finger, tracing a pattern in the blanket on the bed.

"Thanks. I really don't think I could have made it up here by myself." She said, not looking at him. He looked down at her lying there, vulnerable, frightened, and he wanted to hold her, to protect her, to let her know she was safe. He sat on the edge of the bed.

"Listen, kid, I don't know what Creed is up to, but he isn't going to get to ya here. You are safe. I won't let anything get to ya. I'll take care of ya, ok. Hell, they call this the damned Wolverine Fan Club, well now you are an official member." He laughed a little; she smiled, still not looking at him. "Now lie down, and get some rest." He helped her pull back the blankets and slip off her shoes. He tucked her in like a small child, and kissed the top of her forehead. That would help, he thought. Think of her like Marie, or Jubilee. She was one of his kids, to protect. He just wished his body would agree with him.

"I wish I had some music to listen to." She said, quietly, as he was pulling the door closed.

"Hang on." He hurried down the hall to his room and brought back the CD player Jubilee had bought him. There were a few CDs to go along with it, nothing he would really listen to, mostly kid music. Hell he had no use for it. Most of what passed for music these days just made his ears hurt. He hurried back down the hall, wanting to give it to her before she drifted off to sleep.

"Jubes bought this for me a few months ago; I barely took it out of the package. Don't know if the batteries are any good, but it has a plug for the wall." He plugged in the short power cord, and helped her get the 'phones plugged in. Her hands were trembling, and from the scent, it was just fatigue, not fear this time.

"Thanks, Logan." Kit said. She started flipping through the CDs as he walked out the door again. He looked back, she had the headphones on, and was lying down, eyes closed. Her breathing made the blankets rise and fall, softly, and he fought an urge to slip under them with her and hold her. He was really glad he was holding his jacket n front of him. He looked down at the jacket and keys in his hand. Yep a run into town for a stiff drink was just what he needed right now, right after another cold shower.

IT JUST WON'T QUIT

And I never really sleep anymore  
And I always get those dangerous dreams  
And I never get a minute of peace  
And I gotta wonder what it means

Maybe it's nothing and I'm under the weather  
Maybe it's just one of those bugs going round  
Maybe I'm under a spell and it's magic  
Maybe there's a witch doctor with an office in town

Oh is this a blessing or is it a curse?  
Does it get any better? Can it get any worse?  
Will it go on forever or is it over tonight?  
Does it come with the darkness? Does it bring out the light?  
Is it richer than diamonds or just a little cheaper than spit?  
(I don't know what it is)  
I don't know what it is but it just won't quit

And there used to be such an easy way of living  
And there used to be every hope in the world  
And I used to get everything that I went after  
But there never used to be this girl, but there never used to be this girl 

Maybe I'm crazy and I'm losing my senses  
Maybe I'm possessed by a spirit or such  
Maybe I'm desperate and I've got no defenses  
Can you get me a prescription for that one perfect touch? 

Oh is this a blessing or is it a curse?  
Does it get any better? Can it get any worse?  
Will it go on forever or is it over tonight?  
Does it come with the darkness? Does it bring out the light?  
It's a stairway to heaven or a subway going down to the pits  
(Is it some kind of love?)  
I don't know what it is but it just won't quit

There was a time when nothing ever really mattered  
There was a time when there was nothing I didn't know  
There was a time when I knew just what I was living for  
There was a time and the time was so long ago  
There was a time and the time was so long ago...  
And I never really sleep anymore


	5. Objects in the Rear View Mirror

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

Chapter V

Objects in the Rear View Mirror

Mia slammed down the phone. "Don't do anything stupid. I will show you STUPID sis. At least I recognize what I want when I want it."

"Honey, yelling at the phone isn't going to make it any better." Her grandmother said as she walked into the room. Behind her Creed ducked his head as he entered the doorway. Seven foot two and he had to duck the lintels. Mia smiled at him.

She still didn't know why her grandmother hadn't turned them in. She kept saying something about fate and nature and not getting in the way of what was meant to be. She still couldn't believe all seven feet two inches of him was hers. She kept expecting him to say 'thanks for the sex' and take off, or worse. There was a tinge of fear in what she felt for him. She somehow knew he wasn't anywhere near tame.

"Now you two are going to go through with this. There is no talking you out of it." Her grandmother sat the tea tray down on the coffee table. She poured three cups and handed Creed one. Mia had to laugh at that tiny tea cup in his huge hands. He growled at her, but there was a sparkle in his eye.

"No, Grams. We are leaving. Vic wants to check on some friends of his, and Kit isn't in any danger where she is. Mom and Dad are safe, and this will just put them on their guard around the boys. Something they should have been doing anyway. This world just isn't safe anymore." She took the tea cup from her grandmother.

"And you, young man. What are your intentions toward my granddaughter?"

"To be honest, I ain't real sure." Victor answered. Mia chuckled into her tea cup at the look on his face. She wasn't sure anyone had called him young man in a long time. There was an age in his eyes that was older than Grams.

"Well, in the old days, I would have taken you to her Daddy and let him poke a shotgun into your back to do the right thing, especially after what I found in my guestroom this morning." Her grandmother was grinning from ear to ear. "But times have changed, and if she wants to leave with you, without any security, well that is her business. She is eighteen, and able to make her own choices. Just please, be careful, these two girls are special to me. For some strange reason, Nancy was the only one to have girls. All my other daughters had boys, so these are the only two I can count on to carry on our family traditions."

"Grams, you aren't back on that again are you. The old tame the wild men stories." Mia was blushing as Vic looked at her, fangs showing in a grin.

"Yes young lady that is exactly what I am talking about. Now, I know it ain't like flying, or healing like your young man here does, but I guess it is a kind of mutation. You and your sister both have it, and this young man here is proof. Don't think I don't know who you are young man, and don't think the young man means I am fooled. Now I got some instructions for you Mr. Victor Creed AKA Sabertooth." His head snapped around at his name. Mia had only called him Vic, and she had no idea how much her grandmother actually knew.

"You take care of her. She will do you proud. You be gentle with her, because she is the only thing that will keep you civilized, and yes I know you are fighting that tooth and claw. You don't have to live in a house, you don't have to quit what you are best at, but you do have to protect her from that side of you. You want to, you are already doing it, you don't understand it, and there are times you feel like she is putting a leash on you and you hate it, but you can't stop it."

"You may be the toughest challenge the women in this family have faced. I don't know this Logan fella you sent Kit to, but YOU are a piece of work. I have a feeling these friends of yours are not exactly living under the best of conditions, and my Mia isn't much of a camper, but her granddad's old camping gear is out in the shed and you are welcome to it."

"Mia I got two pieces of advice for you, the first one only makes sense until you get somewhat settled, and that is birth control. From what I saw this morning, you are going to need it big time." Mia had the grace to blush. "The second, is make sure where ever you are, you find a bed big enough for this boy to sleep. I ain't sure which of you two is going to wear out first, but if his feet are hanging off the end he ain't going to be comfortable, and comfort is one thing men like him need." Mia noticed she wasn't the only one blushing from her grandmother's frank conversation. Vic was really starting to look uncomfortable.

"Grams we really do want to get on the road." Mia said.

"I know, honey. Now you take that cell phone I bought you, the cards are cheap to keep minutes in them, and they are practically untraceable." Mia wondered just how her grandmother knew that. "You stay in touch and let me know if you need anything. I will explain things to your parents when they call, your mother is going to understand, but she is going to have her hands full keeping your father from coming after you."

"Young man, you load up that gear I told you about in that old pickup out back. The title is already in Mia's name, and even though it is beat up, it is mechanically sound. The insurance is up to date through summer, after that you are on your own. Hell, her granddad and I started out with less." Vic stood up and took the keys Grams handed him.

"Mia you listen to me now, Vic, he's a rough one, it's going ta take a bit to manage him at first, all your time and concentration needs ta be on him. You don't let his friends distract you. You take care of your man, got me."

Mia watched as her man ducked and headed toward the back of the small house. 'Her man' that had such a nice ring to it; she didn't need anything else. She was getting nervous about these friends Vic told her about. What if they didn't like her? Would they make him leave her? She didn't think he would allow that, but she just didn't know. She wished they had more time to get closer before finding this Magneto, she had heard about him and his "Brotherhood" on the news and what she heard wasn't pretty. If Grams was right, and there was some sort of mutant bond forming between her and Vic, she wanted to give it as much time as possible. She didn't know why, but that giant out there was her whole world; and she would kill to stay by his side.

She heard the truck pull up out front and she picked up her bag from where she had left it by the front door. She gave the old woman a hug, and walked out to her future. Who wanted to go to college when you had seven feet two inches of man waiting to drive you off into the sunset? She ran around the front of the truck and threw her bag in back. She opened the door and jumped in. Where ever they went, he was driving, and she liked it that way just fine.

She looked back and watched her grandmother wave until they were out of sight. She knew they had at least one safe place they could come back to if they needed it, and that was all the security she needed at the moment.

Vic had the seat back as far as it would go, and still looked hunched over. This wasn't a small pickup but a big farm truck and he still looked uncomfortable. She thought about her grandmother's advice. A big bed was definitely something she was going to insist on.

They drove all day. Vic stuck to back roads, mostly because he didn't want anyone to know where they were going,

"You are awfully quiet, Darlin'" He said suddenly.

"Just relaxing; I am out of that town, away from all the things that were holding me back, and sitting next to you. What more could I want, right now." She said, meaning every word.

He smiled. She watched his profile as he relaxed. He had his hair pulled back and out of the way. There wasn't any air conditioning in this old truck so they had the windows rolled down most of the time. The wind whipped through making conversation hard anyway. Suddenly he slowed the truck and pulled onto a dirt road surrounded by trees.

"I know what I want right now, Darlin" he said with a grin as he reached over and pulled her against him. He crushed her lips in a demanding kiss and she felt every inch of her body respond to him. His hands roamed over her body, demanding she respond, a demand she met with equal fervor. Her hands were tangled in his hair, pulling it loose, just the way she liked it. It was quick and hot and sweaty and left her breathless, like always.

"Now I can drive," he said as he zipped his pants. He grinned at her. It always amazed her, he had those sharp fangs and only once had he ever pierced her skin. She pulled her skirt back down. One thing she had learned about him…skirts were a must. He liked easy access. She slid back over to her side of the truck. "Seat belt." He said. His hand was hovering over the ignition. She reached over and pulled the seatbelt on.

He started the truck and backed out onto the road. They drove until sunset. Mia was starting to get really hungry. "Vic, when were we planning on stopping for dinner?" She asked.

He looked to the left, at the setting sun. "Next town, Darlin; maybe a motel too."

She smiled. A motel sounded nice. The idea of actually sleeping in a bed with him was one she had thought about for a long time. The daybed in Grams' guest room just didn't count. "Can I see that cell phone?" He asked her. She dug it out of her purse.

He dialed a number and waited. No answer. He dialed another number, and she heard someone on the other end.

"Where's Erik?"

"This is Creed."

"I don't give a shit what you believe, kid, where is the meet?" he asked.

"What the hell do you mean you don't know who this is? I aught ta rip your throat out." He growled at the phone.

"Is the old man available?"

"FUCK YOU, Kid" He hung up and dialed another number. A woman answered.

"Raven, where's the meet?" He asked.

"Yea it's me."

"No, I ain't gona explain where I been."

"Is the old man around?"

"'Cuz last time I heard you were fucking him."

"DAMN kid, I am sorry." He had a shocked look on his face.

"Yes, I mean it."

"Saskatchewan"

"Thanks, Kid."

"We are heading to Canada." He said as he hung up the phone. His face looked troubled.

"I got that. Last time I checked Saskatchewan wasn't in the US." She laughed. He glanced over at her in the dying sunlight. She caught the glimmer in his eye. He liked it when she smarted back at him. It always made things more interesting.

"Smart mouth." He ran his tongue over the front of his fangs. She knew things were going to be VERY interesting later.

"When I get my hands on that Pyro kid, I am gona rip him a new asshole." He grumbled.

He thought for a moment, then started to hand her back the phone. He stopped mid gesture and dialed another number in the cell phone.

"Erik?" He sounded surprised. "Didn't expect ta reach ya here."

"Yea, it's me."

"No, I ain't dead. Ya seen Mort?"

"I'm heading your way, if ya still need my services." There was a long pause on Vic's end; Mia wondered what was being said. "OK."

More silence from Vic.

"I ain't alone. I got me a frail. Need someplace to stash her before I do anything."

"No, I ain't leaving her."

"Yea it's like that."

"Bite me, old man. She's mine and I am keepin her."

Mia could hear the deep chuckle on the other end of the phone.

"Yea, I kinda missed you too." He snarled into the phone. Another long pause.

"No, been dealing with frail issues."

"FUCK. Yea, as soon as I can get to the meet up, and can get the frail someplace she ain't gona get hurt, I am in. We gotta teach these frails respect."

He looked over at Mia and winked. She knew he didn't mean her.

"It'll be a couple days. Gona have to sneak over the border. NO, I ain't tellin' ya where I been."

"It's my business, and speaking of business. Do you still have that stuff I left with ya?"

"Good. Always knew I could trust ya, well to a point."

"Hey, we lost that round. I ain't chargin' for a loss."

"Getting late, Erik, gona have to stop for the night, naa, not me, the frail. Ok me to, I kinda need some sack time, and don't mean sleep." He was grinning, his fangs catching the setting sun and glowing red. Mia blushed. He was talking about their sex life.

"Yea." He laughed, deep and full. "You ain't gona believe this when you see it, hell I don't believe it half the time. But she's mine, so you tell those creeps ya got workin for ya ta keep their hands ta themselves."

"See ya in a few days. I still got that card if you can dump some cash on it, just enough to cover expenses. NOT that much, shit."

"Thanks. I owe ya."

He hung up the phone. "Well that will take care of traveling expenses."

"What?" Mia asked.

"He owed me some money on a job. Erik is a weird one, fuck with him he will kill ya, but he keeps his word."

"Oh." Mia was really starting to get worried. He reached over and ruffled her honey hair.

"Don't worry, Darlin, You're mine. They fuck with you, they fuck with me, and they don't want to fuck with me, got me."

"Yea." She did feel better. As long as Vic was with her, nothing was going to get her down.

Dusk passed, and the headlights on the truck and the moonlight were the only lights around. Mia was beginning to wonder if they were even going to reach a town. They passed a green sign but were moving so fast she couldn't read it. She hoped it was a town soon. She was trying hard not to go to sleep. Her stomach was growling, and she knew Vic could hear it.

Lights began to appear ahead of them, and she could swear she saw a Motel 6 up ahead.

"Gona be stoppin' soon, Mia. You ok." His head turned toward her in the dark.

"Just hungry; get some food in me I will be good to go." She laughed, hoping she would hold up the night.

He looked over at her. She could see what he was thinking on his face. He could see she was tired, and she didn't want him to leave her because she couldn't keep up. He reached over and ran his thumb along her cheek. It sent shivers down her spine.

"You are going to get some rest tonight." He said. "No arguments."

"I am fine, Vic, if we need to we can keep going."

"No."

He pulled into the motel parking lot. There was a drive up ATM and he pulled up to that first. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet. He swiped a card, and punched some numbers into the machine, pulled out the cash, and the receipt when it spit out.

"Damn, Erik; I ain't travelin' halfway 'round the world." He muttered as he crumpled the receipt and threw it across the truck. It landed in her lap. "You mind keepin' track of the finances, kid?" He asked. "I usually don't worry about it, but he over paid me and I want ta make sure I can pay him back."

"Sure." She replied. She smoothed out the receipt but it was too dark to read it in the truck. She slipped it into her purse for later.

He pulled the truck around to the front office of the motel and reached back and pulled his hair into a knot. She could see the glare of a television from the window.

"Kid, can you go in and get us a room? I don't know if there is any kind of alert out for us, and frankly, I stand out. If there is any sign of trouble get out of there and we will move on." He said, across the truck.

"Sure."

He handed her a wad of cash, she grabbed her purse and jumped out of the truck. She opened the office door. Inside the office, a middle aged woman sat behind a desk watching a home shopping channel on the television.

"Need a single." Mia said.

"That your man in the truck?"

"Yea."

"Be $67.50 a night for two people. In advance, and I need to see some ID."

Mia put her driver's license on the counter. The woman handed her a registration card to fill out. Mia handed the card back, with the cash for the room and the woman handed her a key. She didn't even look at the card just wrote the room number on it and filed it in a box.

"You two keep it down. I don't want any complaints from my other guests."

Mia just smiled a little as she walked out the door with the key. She got back in the truck and told Vic the room number. It was on the very end. He took the key and got out. He opened the door, looked around the room and then signaled her to come in. She grabbed her bag out of the back and walked into the motel room.

"Did ya give a name on the registration?" He asked.

"No, but I did have to show ID. I think she just looked at the picture and date of birth to make sure I was legal to rent the room."

"Good. Less traces the better. We will look into getting ya another ID, maybe two or three so it will be harder to track us. Give me the cell phone, I am gona go get us some food, make a few calls, see what I can get done."

"Ok." She said. She handed him the phone. "I am going to get a bath, while you are gone."

He sprang on her pushing her back and up against a wall. "No," His face was right against her neck. "Wait till I get back. I wana help." He gave her that big grin that showed all his fangs.

"Ok, fine, I will stay stinky and grimy till you get back." He was holding her at his eye level. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and put her arms around his neck.

"I like the way you smell just fine." He said before he crushed her mouth with a demanding kiss. "I can smell me all over ya, and it is gona stay that way."

Her fingers were tangled in his hair, pulling it out of the knot. "Of course, baby." She purred at him. Her hands were tangled in his mane of hair. She leaned in and grabbed his lower lip with her teeth. He reached down and pushed her legs down.

"If you want to eat, we need to stop this, NOW." He said, setting her gently on the floor. He pulled her gently against his torso. He had to bend down to kiss the top of her head. She could hear his heartbeat racing. She had done that, with just a kiss. She couldn't wait to spend the whole night in his arms.

"Now, just find yourself something to watch on TV. I will go get some food." He let her go and walked to the door. He looked back over his shoulder at her. "Just make sure I get some dessert when I get back."

She grinned as she lay back on the bed with the TV remote; she stuck her tongue out at him and bit it. He just groaned and walked out the door. She flipped through channels, stopping on the news channels to see if there were any alerts about him or her. The only thing anyone was talking about was an announcement from the UN that the subcommittee on human rights was looking into the issue of Mutant Rights. There was this big blue guy who kept showing up on all the channels, saying that mutants should have the same rights as humans, why should a genetic quirk take away their inalienable rights. It was boring shit, stuff Kit would get a kick out of, she wondered if she knew about this.

Mia switched off the TV and pulled out her purse. Thinking about her sister made her feel a little guilty. She pulled out the receipt Vic had thrown at her in the truck and her checkbook. She didn't have any money in her checking account, but she had a register she could track the expenses on.

He had pulled three hundred dollars out of the machine. The total in the account was staggering. Over fifty thousand dollars and she had to keep track of how they spent it. She wrote down the large amount, and took out the three hundred. She turned to another page and pulled out the cash he had given her. When she added back what she had paid for the room, he had handed her most of what he had pulled. She had over one hundred fifty dollars cash.

She heard the truck pull up outside. The door opened and Vic walked in with a couple brown bags. He handed her a bag, and the receipt. She felt warm inside. He really wanted her to keep track of things. He trusted her to do so. She pulled out the burger and fries. He went back out to the truck and brought in a drink carrier.

"I got ya tea. Didn't know what soda ya liked."

"Dr. Pepper, but tea is good." Neither one of them said much after that for a while. Vic sat at the table in the room, and she lay on the bed.

"Darlin, ya don't have ta do this." He said finally. "You could go back to Grams. I am worried about ya. I ain't sure ya can take what the Brotherhood is like. They are a rough bunch."

"Vic, I am good. I haven't been this happy and contented in a long time. Getting out of there and being here with you is where I want to be. I know it isn't 'safe', I know we are on the run. I even know that if we get caught you are in huge trouble, but this is where I belong. This is where I need to be."

"Darlin, we ain't talked much about where we are goin' or the people we are going ta be with. They are dangerous. Hell I am dangerous. I don't want ta see ya get hurt. Mystique will tear into ya as soon as look at ya, if she is even back. She was pissed on the phone when I talked to her; things are not good in the Brotherhood right now. She and Erik were hit with this cure thing, he has his powers back, he said. Hers are still in and out. I don't know shit about this Pyro character Erik has working with him, but he and I are gona have a good old ass kickin match when I get there."

"Are you trying to talk me out of this, Vic?" Mia asked, trying not to be afraid.

"I guess in a way I am, I don't think I have ever felt this way before, and I don't like it. I want to fucking protect you. I need ta be with these people, need ta make sure that the damned frails respect us mutants. And I ain't sure I can protect ya from them." He punched the table and she heard the wood crack across the room.

"You listen to me, Victor Creed," she stood up and walked to where he was sitting. She reached out and held his face. With him sitting down she could look him in the eye standing up. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily. I want YOU. FUCK the Brotherhood. If that is where you need to be, fine, I am going. If you decide we are going to go hide in a cave somewhere, fine, but I am going with you. If you are that fucking worried about me with the Brotherhood, then teach me to take care of myself when you aren't around, but DON'T try to talk me out of this."

"Darlin, I ain't ever said this before, not and meant it. I love you." He reached out and pulled her against him. She felt his pulse racing against her cheek as she pressed it to his neck.

"I love you, Vic." She whispered into his hair. In all the months of hurried sex, sneaking around, whispered conversations, those words had never been said. She had told others, but not him, afraid it would drive him away, and he had said them first. She couldn't believe it, Victor Creed said I love you to her.

He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. She was shocked. There were actually tears in his eyes. "I don't think anyone, in my entire life, has ever said that to me." He whispered.

"Then I guess I am going to have to make up for lost time. Hrmmmm, how many years is that?" She laughed, tilting her head to one side and glancing at him through her eyelashes.

"Don't you worry about it; I will tell ya when you have said it enough." He picked her up. "Now, didn't you say something about a bath?" He carried her to the small bathroom. She doubted she was going to get a whole lot of sleep.

The next morning she woke up to a strange sound in her ear, a heavy weight across her back, and something tickling her nose. She lifted her head and looked down at the sleeping Sabertooth under her. She had spent a whole night with him. He opened his eyes as she lifted up.

"Where are ya goin?"

"Nowhere; I am just looking at the acres of man that's all mine.

"Well, the south forty could use a little tendin, farm girl, if ya know what I mean." He said as he pulled her up onto his chest. She laughed, and neither one of the said much for a long while.

She lay on the bed watching him move around the room. He took up so much space; she just lay there until he went into the bathroom. She started packing their bags while he grabbed a quick shower. They loaded up the truck, and he dropped her at the office to drop off the key. They hit the road again. They did stop for breakfast before hitting a major highway just over the state line. They made better time and by evening were getting close to the border. He hit the back roads again, and found an unguarded section of the border to cross. They quickly found a main road on the Canadian side, and he started looking for a place to stop for the night.

"Gona be campin tonight, Darlin" He said. "Your ID is American, and that will raise red flags at the motels 'round here."

"That's ok, lover. Much as Grams complained that I am a bad camper, I'm not."

"We can drive straight through if you would rather. You can nap in the cab. I really want ta get ya someplace I know you are safe."

"It's up to you, lover." She said. She had already been napping a bit anyway.

"Gona drive it then." He said. "Lay down as best you can, Mia."

She stretched out across the seat, her feet against the door panel and her head leaning on his hip. He reached down and ran his hand through her hair as she closed her eyes.

She didn't know how long she slept, but when she woke up she was alone in the cab of the truck. She heard him talking to someone outside, so she stayed down. Something heavy slammed into the side of the truck, and then he opened the door and got in.

"Damn cops."

"You awake, Darlin"

"Yea."

"We are gona have to ditch the truck. Mounties have an APB out on it now, or will when they find the body. Damned cop ran the tag before he pulled me over."

She sat up and looked at the gear through the rear windshield. They were going to have to leave some of it behind.

"Let's get off the road, and figure out what we can take with us." She said.

"Naa, gona get to the next town and steal something to get us where we need to go. You ain't gona have ta go without, I promise."

She looked over at him in the dark. He had just killed a cop and she wasn't even scared.

"I'm proud of ya, Darlin. Ya didn't even flinch." He chuckled.

"What."

"Ya took in the situation, and started planning. Ya got a good head." He laughed. "Darlin, unless you are in danger, I ain't killing anybody, least not while you are with me."

"You son of a bitch" She was furious.

"I had to know if you were going ta panic on me."

"So we don't have to ditch the truck?" She asked.

"Not yet. We are gona eventually, but not yet."

She doubled up her fist and punched him in the arm, hell of a lot of good that did her. She just hurt her hand. He grabbed it and kissed it.

"I'll give ya that one, cuz I pulled that stunt…" he gripped her fist, hard, crushing it in his hand, almost breaking it. "But don't ever do that again." He scowled at her, growling deep in his throat.

"Fine." She pulled her sore hand against her chest. He reached over and pulled her against him, he ran a talon over her cheek, softly.

"Darlin, ye're a frail. Don't doubt it. I could break ya without a thought. Hittn' me is a quick way for me to loose it, and I don't want ta loose it with ya, least not that way. It ain't easy for me ta keep it together with ya as it is. Ya got all my mating instincts racin. Don't get my killin instincts goin too." He kissed her gently. She laid her head on his shoulder. He reached over and started the truck. "Now try ta get some sleep. We will be getting to the meet up in a couple hours, and explainin' you is gona be a nice trick."

She closed her eyes and let the noise of the road lull her back to sleep, her hand throbbing between their bodies.

The truck stopped in front of an old abandoned cabin. She lifted her head, and looked around. The area was rugged, deep forests in all directions. Vic flashed the lights of the truck three times and waited. There was a flash of light from off to the left; then another.

"Grab your bag and anything else you think you can carry on a long hike." He looked down at the sandals she was wearing. "Change your shoes."

She jumped out of her side of the truck and grabbed her bag; on the top were her tennis shoes. She threw the sandals in the bag and pulled on the shoes. "Vic should I put on some jeans."

"No." He growled at her.

"Ok, just don't want my legs getting cut up is all."

He growled even louder. "Yea put on some jeans. Last thing I need right now is to smell your blood."

She quickly slipped a pair of jeans on under her skirt and slipped the skirt down over. She threw it in the top of the bag and adjusted the straps for carrying on her back. She grabbed one of the sleeping bags and tied it to the top of her bag, and the bag with the tent. Suddenly another pair of hands was reaching into the back, grabbing gear.

"Damn, Mort I thought ya were dead for sure after that white haired bitch fried ya." She heard Vic say.

A high pitched gravely voice laughed. "Is this yer piece of ass?"

"Yea, so don't get any ideas."

"She's going to fall over with all the crap she is trying to carry."

"Hey, I may be small, but I can carry a lot. I've been camping for years with my family."

"Crap, Creed. Kid has family?" She looked over at the dark figure next to her.

"Yea, just don't ask a whole bunch of questions, Toad. Her family's off limits."

"TOUCHY." Toad laughed.

Mia started trying to tie the tent bag to the side of her bag.

"Is she a normal or a mutie?" Toad asked.

"Why don't ya ask her yourself? She is standing right next to you."

"Don't know, really." She said in the same breath.

"Boss ain't gona like a normal around." Toad said.

"Since when do I care what the boss likes?" Creed answered. "Mia, give me the damned tent, you take this extra sleeping bag."

"Mia, huh, nice name." Toad said as he leaned back against the truck, leering at her. He was shorter than Vic, but still taller than Mia. She couldn't tell much about him in the dark.

She bent over to tie the sleeping bag that Vic had thrown at her feet to her pack. She could feel Toad's eyes boring into her backside.

"Hey, Creed, you know its share and share alike around here." He laughed, and reached over to pat her on the ass

"You carry this. AND KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY FRAIL!" He roared at Toad, throwing the tent at him, hard, knocking the smaller man off his feet

"Damn, Creed." Toad looked over at Mia. "Is he always this possessive?"

"Yea, pretty much." She said as she hefted the pack onto her back. She looked into the back of the truck; somehow the three of them had managed to get all the gear packed.

"Well, sweetie, you must be pretty good in the sack then. If he ever gets tired of ya, you can always come warm my bed; not that there would be much left after he's done with ya."

"STAY AWAY FROM MY FRAIL." Vic grabbed Toad by the throat.

"Vic, he is just trying to make me feel welcome." Mia said, putting her hand on his arm.

He dropped Toad on the ground.

"VIC. She calls you VIC. DAMN, I don't see a leash attached to no collar." Toad laughed out loud.

"You are really getting on my short list, Toad." Vic growled at the short man.

Toad danced away; even with the pack on his back he was nimble. "Vic and Mia sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G…." He sang as he led them into the woods.

She could hear Vic grumbling behind her. "One of these days, I am gona show him it AIN'T easy being green." She heard him say, ahead of her Toad laughed harder. She stumbled over a tree root, and he grabbed her elbow to steady her. "Be careful, Darlin." He purred at her.

They passed Toad; he was doubled over laughing so hard. "This is so rich. Creed can PURRRRRRRRRR." He said to her as he danced ahead of them.

They hiked for hours before they came to a clearing where two men were standing under a tree.

"Are these the folks you were sent to collect, frog boy." One of the men asked.

"Yea, it's really Creed. The woman is with him." Toad answered, one of the men was reaching out toward Mia. Toad grabbed his hand and shook his head.

"Boss wants to see him as soon as you get them to camp."

They started down a steep trail into a sheltered, overgrown valley. There were a few sparse campfires showing across the valley, not enough to give Mia any idea of how many people there were.

In a clearing; under a camouflaged awning stood an old Army tent with the back part closed off for privacy; there were tables and chairs of some form of metal sitting out front, with maps and documents laying on top. The flap of the inside of the tent opened and an older man stepped into the light of the lanterns. Mia recognized him from the many times they had shown his face on TV, Erik Lensherr, Magneto. She felt like she should bow or something.

"Victor, Welcome home my Brother. Who is this?" His deep voice held a tinge of humor.

"Mia, this is Mr. Lensherr."

"Nice to meet you" Mia said as she held out her hand, Erik ignored her.

"We shall see. Victor, I need to speak with you, alone."

"Let me get her settled."

"Now."

"No, I need to make sure she is safe first."

Erik turned around and looked at Vic and sneered. "This tiny human is that important to you?" He drew out the last word.

"Yea, she is."

Erik walked over to Mia. He reached out and lifted her chin into the light. "Well she is certainly pretty enough, if you like humans." Victor reached out and grabbed Erik's wrist.

"She's mine."

Erik looked at Victor in surprise, letting go of her chin. "Is she a human?"

"Not according to her Grandmother. All the women in her family have some sort of mutation. All I know is she is my mate and I ain't letting anyone else touch her."

"Interesting." He looked at Mia like she was a bug under a magnifying glass.

Erik walked back toward the back of the tent. "Be here first thing in the morning. Get your 'Mate' settled tonight. It can wait until then."

Victor nodded, and he led Mia back the way they had come. Toad was standing where they had left him, and they followed him to a small clear space near the big tent.

"He wants you close." Toad said, as he dropped his pack, he was suddenly serious.

"Not surprised." Vic said.

Mia dropped her pack on the ground and sat down. She was tired, the long truck ride, the long hike, and now Magneto didn't like her. She was in way over her head here.

"Sit still a few minutes, Mia; I'll start getting the tent set up."

Toad chuckled to himself as he walked off.

Vic had the tent set up in no time, and started to unroll the sleeping bags, but Mia stopped him.

"Let me air up the airbed first." She said.

"No, too much noise." He said.

"Ok, guess we sleep on the ground tonight." She laughed.

"No, I sleep on the ground. You sleep on me." He laughed back.

"But we won't get much sleep that way." She grinned.

"I know." He wiggled his eyebrows at her like Groucho Marxx. She burst out laughing and had to hold her side.

He grabbed the packs of gear and laid them inside the tent. It was an old fashioned family camping tent with three rooms inside.

"Get inside. I will go see if there is a camp kitchen and see what there is for food."

"Ok." She went in and began unpacking some of the gear. The camp table and chairs set up quickly, she decided to leave the stove and cooking table for later. She found three camp pads folded up inside the camp table and lay them out underneath the sleeping bags. At least he wouldn't have to lie completely on the ground. She still wished he would let her set up the king sized air bed she had talked him into buying. Well maybe tomorrow.

She put the bags with her clothes and the few things he had in the other room of the tent along with the extra camping and fishing gear they had brought from her Grams' house. She thought about her Grams and reached for her purse, but remembered Vic still had the phone.

He came back with two brown plastic pouches and a canteen of water.

"Best we can do, Darlin." He said as he handed her a pouch. "MREs"

"That's fine." They were quiet while they opened the pouches and waited for the food to heat up in the chemical heaters. At least the center of the tent was tall enough that he could stand upright without having to duck. She hated seeing him hunched over. He sat, gingerly in one of the camp chairs. It held his weight so he leaned back and opened his warmed pouch of food.

"Hope Erik didn't scare you too bad."

"Not really, just a bit." She didn't ever lie to him about fear. He could smell it, so it wasn't worth lying about.

"Raven's back. Saw her at the food tent." He licked his fingers off and threw the pouch in a bag she had set up for trash.

"You do good work, Darlin." He said as he looked around the tent. He noticed the sleeping pads under the bags. "That will do for tonight. Tomorrow we can air up the bed, if we aren't moving out. Not gona get much sleep tonight anyway. Dawn is only a couple hours away." He pulled off his denim jacket and laid it on the floor of the tent next to the makeshift bed she had set up.

"Do you think I could call Grams tomorrow?" She asked. "At least let her know we are safe."

"Let me talk to Erik in the morning. I will know more then." He said as he stretched out. "Now come here and get some sleep. You look tired."

"I thought you didn't want to sleep." She asked, reaching down to pull her shirt up. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her down on top of him. "I don't but you need to. Leave your clothes on and get some sleep, we will have time to fool around later." She laid her head on his thick chest and draped herself comfortably over him. She could feel that he defiantly didn't want to sleep, but he was right, she was tired. She closed her eyes.

She woke to a blue scaled face with red hair right in her face. She screamed and jumped back.

"So, this is the useless piece of shit that Creed brought in." The woman said. Mia watched her move with an almost reptilian smoothness.

Mia looked at her. The blue skin and scales covered her entire body, and she didn't bother wearing any clothes to cover her.

"I am not useless." Mia said defensively.

"Not a mutant, can't fight, only good for Creed to fuck, that is the definition of useless."

"Raven" Vic said as he came into the tent "leave her alone."

"Erik wants her gone, quickly."

"Tough shit." He sat down two more brown pouches on the table.

"She isn't one of us."

"She is mutant enough for me, and that is all that counts."

"You just better hope that is mutant enough for Erik." Raven said. "And the name is Mystique."

Victor towered over her. "Whatever, Raven." He said.

She stormed out of the tent.

"Guess things didn't go well this morning." Mia said, sleepily, leaning back on her elbows.

"Things went fine. We will be staying here for about a week. We need to sort through everything and get rid of anything extra because we will be moving out on foot." Mia climbed out of the sleeping bags he had bundled her up in. She walked into the front room of the tent. There on the table next to the food was a steaming bucket of water.

"Best I could do to clean up with." He said.

Mia walked over and hugged him. He was so damned thoughtful sometimes. He rested his arms around her. "Get cleaned up, Darlin, and dressed. Those jeans are an annoyance." He smiled. She looked up at him and grinned. His friends may not like her, but she didn't care. She had everything she needed in her arms at that moment.

"So, can you tell me what is going on?" She asked as she pulled the T-shirt over her head.

"Just general stuff, Darlin, there is a big deal about the UN thing about if mutants have the same rights as humans. There is also a new anti-mutant group Erik is watching, Friends of Humanity. They are really starting to get uppity and violent." He stood against the tent pole watching her wash up.

He tossed the phone on the table. "Call your Grams. Erik talked to her already and checked the phone and it can't be traced. Just don't give her any information about where we are."

"Thanks, lover," She paused "How the hell did Erik talk to Grams?" She said as she slipped the jeans off. He stood up and walked out of the tent with a grumble "Keep doing that and I ain't ever leavin' that tent." She laughed as he sat on a log outside the tent.

"She called while I was in the meeting with him. Seems she knows him or something, anyway, after talking ta her, he told me you can stay as long as you want to. Before she called he was trying ta get me ta take you out of here."

"Wow, my Grams knows Magneto. This is too weird." She shrugged and finished cleaning up, and then went into the other room where her bag was. The water was still warm, so she grabbed the dirty clothes from the last few days for a quick wash.

"You going to want to use this water, baby?" She asked.

"No. I found a stream earlier."

"Damn, why didn't you invite me?"

"It was COLD, Darlin" he laughed.

"So, you could have kept me warm." She stuck her head out of the tent and leered at him suggestively.

"That's my frail." He laughed.

"I am going to wash up some clothes if you have anything that needs cleaned up."

"Naa, but make sure you leave anything bright colored inside the tent to dry."

"I was planning on it, baby."

She stepped out into the morning sunlight. She was wearing a simple skirt with a T-shirt and her sneakers. Vic walked over and picked her up in his arms. "I don't care what anyone says, you are mine and you stay where I am.

"I love you, too, Vic." She whispered against his ear.

**OBJECTS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR MAY APPEAR CLOSER THAN THEY ARE**

The skies were pure and the fields were green  
The sun was brighter than it's ever been  
When I grew up with my best friend Kenny  
We were close as any brothers than you ever knew

It was always summer and the future called  
We were ready for adventures and we wanted them all  
There was so much left to dream  
And so much time to make it real

But I can still recall the sting of all the tears when he was gone  
They said he crashed and burned  
I know I'll never learn why any boy should die so young  
We were racing, we were soldiers of fortune  
We got in trouble but we sure got around  
There are times I think I see him peeling out of the dark  
I think he's right behind me now and he's gaining ground

But it was long ago and it was far away, oh God it seems so very far  
And if life is just a highway, then the soul is just a car  
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are...

And when the sun descended and the night arose  
I heard my father cursing everyone he knows  
He was dangerous and drunk and defeated  
And corroded by failure and envy and hate

There were endless winters and the dreams would freeze  
Nowhere to hide and no leaves on the trees  
And my father's eyes were blank as he hit me again and again and again  
I know I still believe he'd never let me leave, I had to run away alone  
So many threats and fears, so many wasted years before my life became my own  
And though the nightmares should be over  
Some of the terrors are still intact  
I'll hear that ugly coarse and violent voice  
And then he grabs me from behind and then he pulls me back

And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are...

There was a beauty living on the edge of town  
And she always put the top up and the hammer down  
And she taught me everything I'll ever know  
About the mystery and the muscle of love

The stars would glimmer and the moon would glow  
I'm in the back seat with my Julie like a Romeo  
And the signs along the highway all said, "Caution! Kids At Play!"  
Those were the rights of spring and we did everything  
There was salvation every night  
We got our dreams reborn and our upholstery torn  
But everything we tried was right  
She used her body just like a bandage, she used my body just like a wound  
I'll probably never know where she disappeared  
But I can see her rising up out of the back seat now  
Just like an angel rising up from a tomb

And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are...

She used her body just like a bandage, she used my body just like a wound  
I'll probably never know where she disappeared  
But I can see her rising up out of the back seat now


	6. Wasted Youth

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

A/N they are getting longer…..hope you enjoy.

Chapter VI

Wasted Youth

The last few days had been quiet for Kit. Marie and Jubilee had been thrilled to find out she was a mutant, and told her regularly that they thought her power was cool.

"Well, better then suckin tha life outa everyone ya touch." Marie had said, sadly.

Kit liked Marie. Jubilee was a pain, but then, all fourteen year olds were a pain. She had stayed in her room the first day after she passed out, just resting. The next morning Logan had stuck his head in to remind her she had self defense with him.

"Move it, Mirror." He had said from the door, grinning from ear to ear.

She rolled over, throwing the pillow over her head to the floor. "Get out, Jerk." She looked over at the other two bed, Marie and Jubilee were still asleep.

"It's 6am, you have class at eight. Hank wants you to try using your mutation again so better get a move on." He said, pulling the door closed behind him.

She had gotten out of bed and pulled on a clean set of sweats. One thing about this place, if you needed sweats they had plenty. She went down to the kitchen but there didn't seem to be anyone else around. She grabbed an apple, and started looking for Hank. He wasn't down in his office, or in the gym. She looked around the lower level but there was no sign of Hank. She came back up in the elevator and saw Logan and about five other kids heading out to the front yard.

"Class is outside, kid." Logan said as he passed her. She bit her lip, keeping back the angry retort. He thought she needed to be in the kindergarten class, huh?

She fell in with them. Logan started with the other kids, telling her to watch what he was doing. He was doing basic grabs and punches. Stuff that they had taught in her college self defense class. Hell, she learned to do that crap when she was ten. She watched him working with the younger kids. For a jerk, he had patience, there was one girl that just seemed hopeless, but he just kept encouraging her, working with her, until she threw a decent punch.

She had to admit, he was definitely nice looking, and the sweats didn't hide the fact that he was, well, stacked. His face relaxed when working with the kids, and the softer look tugged at something in her chest. His body moved with a natural grace, even with such elementary moves, and she found herself wondering what else he could do with that body. She was definitely distracted.

Hank came out a few minutes later and Logan walked over to her.

"Ok, Kid. We are going to try something a little more complicated. I am going to attack ya, and you defend yourself using that kata you picked up the other day. Got it?"

"Got it, jerk." She said, shaking her head, to clear the cobwebs, well she hoped he thought it was cobwebs.

He swung a fist at her head and she ducked, blocking him with one arm easily. She closed her eyes and watched what he was doing. She felt the tingle, and suddenly she was blocking him before he moved. She could not only see the moves as he executed them, but somehow she could see the next several moves, and anticipate them.

"Now, that was unexpected." Hank said, a laptop on a small portable table, and some sort of sensory equipment set up nearby.

"What do you mean?" Kit asked.

"I was able to pick up the flow of energy with the sensors. You were not only absorbing Logan's moves as he made them, but anticipating them, pulling three to four moves in advance. You not only absorbed him, but you did it while using the defensive kata you absorbed, without missing a move."

"You didn't just mirror him, like before. And your heart rate and brain waves are normal. It definitely isn't the mutation that caused the reaction the other night. If anything you seem more energized than before you used it. Your hormone and pheromone levels are still high, however."

The kids were watching with open mouths. It had been quite a show. The little girl, who had been having the problems, walked over and took Kit's hand,"Can you show me what you did?" She asked.

Kit knelt down and looked her in the eye. "I can sure try."

"Ok, I think we are done here." Logan said, looking down at her.

"You can join Marie and Jubilee in the more advanced class tomorrow afternoon. No need for this beginner stuff for you." He glared at her. She didn't know if he was pissed, or if that was just his permanent look.

"That's just great, just what I always wanted; self defense classes with you and your fan club." She said with a snort. She turned away and walked back toward the house. Hank walked along with her.

"I just spoke with your mother. She heard from your grandmother yesterday afternoon. Mia is with Creed, and voluntarily. Your grandmother explained that the whole attack was an elaborate ruse, to send you up here. Evidently, Creed could tell you were a mutant, he had originally planned to kidnap you and take you to the Brotherhood, but then he met your sister and Mia convinced him to help her make your mother send you here, instead. Evidently, there is something between the two of them, what I cannot begin to fathom."

"What the hell does she think she is doing? From what everyone has said, he is a killer."

"Yes he is, but according to your grandmother, your sister seemed quite enamored of him, and he of her."

"It just doesn't make any sense." Kit said as they entered the mansion, Mia wasn't that stupid. How could she fall in love with an animal like that? She just shook her head as she walked up the steps with Hank to the front door. "None of this makes any sense, and that pain in the ass doesn't make it any easier."

"Well I must leave you; I have yet another meeting in the city. Please try to stay on Logan's good side. Depreciating remarks will only raise his ire."

Kit laughed. "Hank, I already knew that, but frankly he pisses me off. Besides, I have to stay on my toes, you never know when someone might do something I might need someday." She wiggled her eyebrows at him and reached out and gave the big blue teddy bear a hug.

He hugged her back. "It is a pleasure seeing you relax and accept what you are, my dear." She stepped back. There was a suspicious hint of moisture in his eyes.

"Now if I could only get my youngest roommate to quit using all the damned hot water." She laughed as she ran up the stairs, Hank's deep chuckle following her.

Back in the room, Jubilee was picking up her backpack from next to her bed.

"Off to class."

"Did you leave me any hot water?"

"Well, there is always the hot plate." Jubilee laughed as she ran out the door.

Kit sat on the bed. She couldn't seem to get an image out of her mind. She had opened her eyes while Logan had been moving against her, the look of concentration, fierce and intense on his face, had shocked her, but what had surprised her more was her reaction to the single bead of sweat that ran down the side of his face before getting lost in his sideburn. She had wanted to wipe it away. She had wanted to touch him. He was such an ass, a jerk, and somehow she was feeling drawn to him. Well, maybe Jubilee using all the hot water wasn't a bad thing. She felt the need for a cold shower all of the sudden.

She had just gotten out of the shower when she heard a loud noise outside the window. She rushed over just in time to see a huge black jet rising out of the basketball court. She had no idea this place could hide something like that. There was definitely more than met the eye around here and something was up.

She got dressed quickly and ran back downstairs. Ro was sitting in her office, her head in her hands. When she looked up at Kit, tears were rolling down her face but she was smiling.

"What's going on?"

"Only the best news possible; Professor Xavier is alive, somehow, and Logan and Marie and Bobby went to go get him. Somehow, he managed to transfer his consciousness into the body of a man in a vegetative state. It has taken him this long to recuperate and get the new body to adapt to his abilities." Ro was almost giddy.

Kit sat down in one of the chairs, she didn't really know who this Professor guy was, but Ro seemed really happy.

"So that is what the big assed plane was about?" Kit laughed, "It kinda scared me a bit."

"Yes, well this place is always full of surprises." Ro laughed.

Peter came running into the room. "Is it true?"

"Yes, Peter. He is coming home."

Peter let out a huge whoop and ran out to tell the other students. Kit could hear cheers from the hallways.

"I guess classes are cancelled today." Ro said.

"So who is this Professor?" Kit asked.

"Professor Charles Xavier is the founder of this school. We thought he had been killed, right before Alcatraz, but Moira just called and told me he was in her care in Scotland, and was ready to come home." Tears were pooling in Ro's eyes again. Kit put her arm around the older woman. "He has been like a father to most of us, especially the older students, and we have missed his guidance and comfort the last six months."

"Well, then I am really happy for you. I look forward to meeting him."

The two women walked out of the office. Many of the older children were hugging each other and cheering. Some of the younger ones and even some of the older ones were looking around in confusion. Kit knew that the noise was going to spread through the whole mansion.

"Ro, can I call my grandmother from the land line phone. I forgot to charge the cell phone and it is dead."

"Certainly."

She went back into Ro's office and shut the door. She sat at the desk in Ro's office, and dialed her grandmother's number.

"Grams."

"Hello, honey. How are you doing? How's your man?"

"What man?" Kit asked.

"Don't give me that, the one you have been dreaming about. The one grating on every nerve you have. The one sending you to take cold showers, while you are so pissed off at him you can't see straight."

"How the hell did you know that?"

"It's time you and I had a long talk. I just wish Charles were alive to help with this. He is the one who explained it to me."

"Charles? I thought grandpa was Daniel."

"He was, honey. Charles was an old friend of mine and your granddad's."

"Ok so what is going on? And how did you know about the dreams?"

"Because we all have them, the moment we set eyes on that one man our body accepts as our mate. I had them about your grandfather; your mother had them about your father. Mia had them about her man."

"What about Mia and her 'man'. That man is a killer. How could you just let her go off with him?"

"Because, he brought out what Charles called her primordial feminine. She is as bound to him as I was to your grandfather, or as your mother is to your father. Your man is doing that with you. You are doing things you wouldn't normally do to get his attention, probably to piss him off royally. You want to make sure he knows who you are. You want him to SEE you; to WANT you."

"No I don't. I can't stand him. He is an asshole."

"Yea, and that is why you are waking up in the middle of the night, covered in sweat, aching deep in your gut, needing what only he can give ya. Mia is my issue, and I am taking responsibility for allowing her to go off with Victor. You however have your new mutation to deal with, plus this primordial feminine, or Y factor as your mother called it, that is stirring you up."

"What does Mom know about this?"

Her grandmother laughed into the phone. "Your mother looked at it from the scientific side for years. She even traced the gene that causes it. She thought she had found her man, once, until she met your father. I am afraid she broke that poor boy's heart. And him such a beast, he SHOULD have been her man. But it was your father she wanted. I argued with her about it; but she wouldn't give. Just like Mia wouldn't give about Victor. The reason this thing we have isn't considered a mutation is because it comes through the maternal line, not the paternal line like the X gene. It is ancient, Kit, older than any mutation in the world."

"Wait, you know about the X gene? I thought that was a term used here."

"It is. My old friend, Charles Xavier, coined that phrase. I miss that old coot. I didn't get to go to his funeral but I wish I had. Do me a favor, honey. Put some flowers on his grave for me while you are there."

"Well, I would, but I think he is coming home today."

"What?" For the first time her grandmother actually sounded surprised.

"Ro sent the jet to pick him up; evidently he transferred his consciousness into a man who was brain dead."

"Leave it to Charles to have a way to escape death." Her grandmother laughed, but Kit could hear tears in it. "When the old coot gets there, have him give Miranda a call. He has my number."

"I will give him the message, Grams."

"You think about what I said. This man of yours, he is going to change how you look at life. He is going to change a whole lot of things. There are going to be things you can't control, and I know that is a huge issue for you. You are going to have to let go. But don't let go of your dreams, he can't take those from you. Mia is letting Victor control her dreams for now, but she is young yet, and hasn't really decided what those are. You already have. Man or not, you follow your dreams."

"Yea, well even if what you say is true, I am not competing with a ghost. His heart is buried in the yard out here. I see him every day at her grave. I don't know what happened, but it was bad. Jubilee says he spends most of the night, sitting by her grave, just talking to her. It is freaky."

"Honey, if she is dead, it is just a matter of time. He will come around. He is probably already spending a lot of time in cold showers. I remember with your grandfather, he was out of control. He was married before me. She died in a typhoid outbreak. He was miserable, wouldn't even look at another woman before he met me. Said his heart was dead and buried and he was going to do whatever it took to join her. He and I fought like cats and dogs until finally I took matters into my own hands. I knew what I wanted, and well, he just didn't have much of a choice after I decided to go after it. He never looked back, after that." Her grandmother chuckled.

"That is all fine and dandy, Grams, but at least you liked Gramps first. I HATE this guy. He is arrogant, did you know he has a FAN CLUB around here, not only that but he ADMITS he has a fan club. He is brutal, mean, a killer, and I am not joking. I have seen what is in his muscle memory, and it is deadly. I have absorbed some of it and it is starting to scare me. Some of the things his muscles have done, well I am not going to be practicing those moves."

"Find out what you can about him from those around him. You might be surprised; he may not be as bad as you think." She could tell her grandmother was laughing at her expense.

"Well, he did give me a CD player, I forgot to buy one, and since the stuff from school hasn't arrived, I didn't have anything to listen to. There are times he isn't all that bad. Just has a chip on his shoulder a mile high. Sometimes all I want to do is try to knock it off."

"What you are reacting to, honey, isn't him. You are reacting to the fact that your body isn't under your control right now. You don't like change, you don't like feeling out of control, and you DON'T like admitting you are wrong, and in this case, and about this man, I think you may be very wrong indeed. Give this until summer; don't try to DO anything about it. You have time; you have the rest of your life. Learn what you need to learn, learn from him if you can. Give yourself permission to like him. He will come around in time. They always do. Find SOMETHING to do; a hobby, get involved in this new mutant's rights stuff, it is right up your alley. Don't dwell on it."

"Easy for you to say, Grams, you don't wake up all hot and sweaty and frustrated."

"Honey, I have woken up all hot and sweaty and frustrated since your grandfather died, every night."

"Oh" that was just more information than Kit really wanted to know.

"Now, you go. And don't forget to tell that coot to call me."

"Bye, Grams."

Kit hung up the phone. Her grandmother was insane. She had been preaching this same sermon for years. Kit decided to talk to Hank about it. Maybe he knew something. She didn't want anyone to know who was waking her up at night. That would be just too embarrassing.

She stood up and walked out of the room. She headed up stairs, past clumps of students talking excitedly. Her room door was open and music was blaring. Jubilee must be in there. Well, no time like the present to at least find out some of what was going on around here.

"Hey Jubes."

"Hey yourself; how was class with Wolvie?"

"It sucked."

"Why?"

"He's a jerk."

"Naa, just give him time, he'll grow on you."

"What like a wart?"

Jubilee laughed. She reached over and turned off the music. "Shut the door."

Kit shut the door and walked over to her bed.

"Wolvie has been through a lot. He isn't as bad as he seems, hell, he would die for any of us kids, and that would be hard to do since he is practically indestructible."

"Yea, right; just because you all think he is a super hero doesn't mean he is."

"OK, FIRST OFF. Wolvie is my friend, so stop dissin' him." The tips of Jubilee's fingers started to glow. Kit held her hands up and backed down, she hadn't wanted to piss off her roommate, and she hadn't seen any of Jubes' fireworks and really didn't want to see them up close and personal. "Secondly, has anyone told you what his mutation is or anything at all about him?"

"No." Kit sat hard on the end of her bed.

"Well, you know you might try finding out before you judge someone. He heals; any injury he takes heals right up. No one knows how old he is, because his mutation retards the aging process. He only remembers the last seventeen years or so because a really bad guy by the name of Stryker used him for an experiment seventeen years ago, bonded his skeleton with a metal called adamantium, while he was awake to feel it. It fucked with his head, and he can't remember anything prior to that. He also has enhanced senses, smell, and hearing in particular. Top that with three eighteen inch blades that come out of each hand, he is basically a killing machine."

"Shit. And he is allowed around the kids." Kit was shocked; she wondered why he wasn't locked up in a straight jacket somewhere or something.

"Hell, yea." Jubilee was getting pissed off, and Kit wasn't sure that was a good idea. "He has protected us a bunch of times. He would NEVER hurt any of us. He also makes sure we know how to take care of ourselves. When Stryker attacked the mansion, he killed a bunch of his guys to give most of the kids a chance to escape. Six of us were captured, and he and Ororo and Jean and Scott and the Professor, along with Magneto and Mystique rescued us. Jean was killed, or so we thought, which about killed Wolvie. He loves her."

"So that is the grave he goes to every day?" Kit looked at her hands in her lap; she was starting to feel more than a little guilty over disliking the guy.

"Yea, he can't get over her dying the second time."

"The second time?" how did someone die twice?

"Yea, do you remember the whole cure thing, and Alcatraz 'bout six months ago."

"Yea."

"Well, what most people don't know is there at the end, it was all one mutant doing it. Jean; well Phoenix really, it's kinda a long story, but her power was so strong she had split into two personalities. Phoenix protected her when we thought she was dead the first time, and when she came back, it wasn't really Jean, it was the Phoenix in control. She killed her fiancé, Scott. Then came after Wolvie; really messed with his head. None of us really know what went on between them, but he's been hurting, bad ever since. In the end she begged him to kill her, and he had to choose, between her, and the world, cuz she was going to destroy it. He put his claws right into her heart, then brought her body back and buried her out in the yard. She is the one who killed the Professor, too, but looks like he found a way to come back."

"Damn." Kit just sat there absorbing what the fourteen year old told her. Maybe she HAD been a little hard on the guy. Ok so he wasn't a blue teddy bear, but sounded like maybe, just maybe she had misjudged him almost as badly as she had Hank.

"Ok, so why do they call you and Marie his fan club?"

"Cuz, we are the ones he would talk to after Jean died. Marie and I were roomies then, with Kitty, and when he would come in to talk to Marie, well I just kinda wouldn't go away. Anyway he started coming to talk to me when Marie wasn't around, and we got to be friends. Marie and him go back about two years. They were brought here at the same time, and he has saved her life more than a few times. Did they report about the Statue of Liberty thing where you are from?"

"Yea, I didn't live on Mars."

"Marie nearly died, he thinks she was dead, but her body drained his healing ability and he nearly died saving her. She used to have a crush on him, 'til she realized he was lost over Jean. Now they are just good friends, and she and Bobby are a hot item, or they were, till her powers came back."

"Came back?" Kit was really starting to feel like this was a whole different world.

"You know you don't know shit about this mutant stuff, do you? Yea she went and took the cure, so she could touch people without killing them. She and Bobby were at it really hot and heavy for a while, till one day she started making ice cubes with her hand, and he ended up in med lab for a week."

"When was that?"

"'Bout three weeks ago. It has been coming and going, the last week or so more coming than going. She has been really depressed about it. Having you for a new roommate has helped. She has been more worried about you the last few days than her wacky powers."

Kit decided she needed to have a long talk with Marie when she got back. She really liked the platinum streaked girl.

"So, dumb question, but how often does she have to get her roots done? I love that streak she has in her hair."

"Dumb ass, she got that on Liberty Island. It is a souvenir of what Magneto did to her. He strapped her into a machine and fed her his powers through her skin, the machine nearly killed her. Believe me; you don't want to go through what she did to get it."

"Oh." Kit was really starting to think that maybe she had been living on Mars or something.

Jubilee put her arm around Kit. "You're new, no one expects you to know this stuff. Believe me, you crying on her shoulder that first night was one of the best things you could have done. She really needs every human touch she can get, so please don't let her powers scare you. They do everyone else, except Wolvie. He hugs her, and lets her know he isn't afraid. Bobby, too, but he is kinda sad about it because of what they did have. Most everyone else is afraid of her."

"Well that's just dumb. She covers herself so well; she couldn't hurt anyone unless she really tried." Kit was getting a little pissed at the idiots who had been hurting her new friend. "And as for her and Bobby, well, hell for starters there are things on the market she could buy that would allow her and Bobby to have fun, even if he can't touch her skin. A trip to Victoria Secret, Christies Toy Box, and a drug store would solve a whole bunch of their problems."

"WHAT?" Jubilee looked at Kit. "EWWWWWWW. I am not sure I WANT to hear this. Tell HER when she gets back, though."

Kit grinned. She knew better. She had seen Jubilee on the internet yesterday while Marie was in class on the campus in town, bookmarking Victoria Secret's summer catalog, especially the pages with body stockings.

"You know Frederick's of Hollywood has a better selection." Kit teased Jubilee.

"You tell Marie I put those on her computer, and I'll paf ya."

"I ain't telling her. I put the Fred's ones there myself"

Jubilee laughed and the two sat quietly for a few moments. "I wish Wolvie would get over the Jean thing; this spending hours down at her grave can't be good for him." She said as she looked out the window.

"Well at least he is gone to get the Professor, and not here lurking around." Kit said as she lay back on the bed.

"Wolvie doesn't lurk. He stalks." Jubilee said.

"Whatever. Ok so the guy has it tough. I will give him that. That mutation of his has to suck, I mean seriously suck," Jubilee looked at her with a strange expression. "And loosing anyone you care about is hard, but does he have to give everyone such a hard time, and what is his personal space issue anyway? Every time I see the guy he is moving in on my personal space."

Jubilee turned around. "Huh. Man you do look at things weird. Most people envy his mutation, at least the healing part as for the other, well the only person he really gets close to, physically, outside of the danger room or self defense classes, is Rogue. He will let her lean on him, or sit with him on the couch watching TV or something downstairs, but he usually stays away from people."

"You could fool me."

"Well, I hug him from time to time when he looks like he needs it, and he puts up with it, but usually he has this wall around him, 'bout three feet from his body, that nobody, and I mean NOBODY gets into."

"I bet Jean did." Kit said softly.

"If she did, no one here ever saw it. He kept her at arm's length too. Of course everyone knew she was Scott's girl, they were engaged an all. We all know how Wolvie felt about her, even Jean, but we all also know how Jean felt about Scott."

"But I thought Jean killed Scott."

"She did, or so we think. No one is completely clear on what happened. I mean there was no body or anything, come to think of it there was no body when she killed the Professor, but she didn't kill him, or did she. DAMN Jean is confusing."

"I am so missing simple farm life right about now." Kit said, leaning back on the headboard of the bed. "You know, where I come from when people die, they stay dead, not come back six months later."

Jubilee laughed. "Yea I think I could use a dose of that myself. It is getting a little intense around here."

Suddenly 'She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" started playing in the room. Jubilee jumped half out of her skin. Kit looked for where the music was coming from and realized it was her phone ringing.

"OH MY GOD, I HAVE GOT to change that ringtone. MOM that is just sick." She grabbed the phone off the charger.

"Hello."

"Hi, hon." Speak of the devil.

"Mother, your ringtone SUCKS."

Her mother just laughed in her ear. Jubilee made moves like putting her finger down her throat and bolted for the door. Kit threw a pillow at her retreating back.

"How are you doing, hon. Is everything ok up there? Hank called this morning, said you weren't feeling well. He sent copies of his exams, and your blood work and frankly I am a lot worried."

"I am fine, now. He thinks it was just all the stress that got to me yesterday. Probably a good thing I am NOT trying to keep up on classes at the moment."

"Did your sister talk to you about anything? Did she mention when she met this guy or why she did this?"

"No, Mom. I really can't figure all this out. Why would she just run off with that guy?"

"That's the part I understand. What I don't understand is why she just didn't tell me what was going on, why all the elaborate games."

"I am so glad someone understands what the hell is going on."

"Kit, I have been expecting you to pull something like this for months. Of course I was almost thirty when I met your father, so you still have plenty of time."

"God, Mom, you are starting to sound like Grams."

"Well, your grandmother has a lot of wisdom."

"Whatever."

"When that right man finds you, you will know. You won't sleep much at first. You will know when it happens. To be honest, honey it has already happened, I was so surprised at your blood work. It can't be that bad, can it? "

"Was Daddy a big jerk when you first met him?"

"Oh, the worst, I can't believe I never told you how I met your father. I met him at a bar. Dr. McCoy, Hank, and I had gone out; we had been working in the lab all day and needed to unwind. He took me up to a place just over the border, where they had cage fighting. This was before Hank was blue."

"He wasn't always blue?" Kit couldn't imagine the big blue teddy bear without him being blue; He might actually be scary if he didn't look like an overgrown smurf.

"No, anyway, we were watching the fight when this drunken asshole grabbed my ass. Hank about ripped his arm off for him, but your dad wouldn't back down. I thought they would kill each other right then, but the asshole was called to the cage, and when he took off that shirt, I thought I would melt. I just couldn't stand it. He was the biggest asshole, and had been so rude to poor Hank, but poor Hank ended up leaving alone, and I stayed. The sex was great; I don't think we left the motel for four days; your father's personality left a whole lot to be desired back in those days. We didn't talk much at first, and then when we did, well I found out that he wasn't the asshole I thought he was."

"Mother, I DON'T need to hear about your sex life." Kit screeched, she heard the kitchen screen door slam over the phone.

Her mother just laughed. "Your father just came in. It took a couple of months for him to come around." Kit heard her father chuckle in the back ground, her mother giggled in her ear.

"Eewwwww. Get a room." Kit said. Her parents had not ever hidden their active sex life, but Kit was just too frustrated right now to deal with it.

"Actually, with the boys in school, and you two girls gone, that isn't a bad idea."

"TMI Mother."

"Did you get your box of things from school?"

"Not yet. It should be here today. My roommate, Marie, loaned me her computer yesterday and I ran the tracking on it."

"Your father and I are looking into getting you a laptop to replace the one that was broken."

"Mom, you guys can't afford that. You are losing the money on this semester anyway."

"Kit, we have homeowner's insurance and the laptop was covered. The insurance company is making us replace it anyway."

"Oh. Well in that case, if you can afford it just order me another Dell, and have it shipped here."

"That is what we were planning on, honey; just wanted to let you know."

"I will talk to you later, Mom; things are getting kinda loud around here." Kit said as a roar began to build outside.

"Bye, honey, I guess your room is near the basketball court then, I will call you later. We won't be able to talk much while they land the plane."

"Bye. Mom, I miss you."

Kit hung up the phone and looked out the window. The big plane was back, and the basketball court was open as it dropped slowly under the ground. Kit guessed the Professor was back. That meant Logan was back, too. Kit decided a nap might be in order. She didn't want to run into Mr. Gruff and Grumbly any time soon, at least not with his clothes on.

She lay back down on the bed and pulled up the covers. She pulled on her headphones, no Logan's headphones, she reminded herself. She would see about returning them to him later, when her stuff arrived. She had accepted enough from these people, she wasn't going to take any gifts from HIM of all people. She closed her eyes and let the music lull her to sleep.

She woke tossing and turning and dripping with sweat. She sat up in the bed, damn it. Why was it every time she closed her eyes, his face was there. This was getting old very quickly. She wanted to scream. This time had been different though. He had been kissing her, in the dream, when suddenly this ball of flame and come out of nowhere and grabbed him. He had grinned at her and said 'Later Kid, been fun' as a huge fiery bird pulled him into the air. He had turned to embrace the bird as Kit had been reaching out for him. Had to be the talk with Jubilee, she started to get out of the covers when she noticed the knap of the blanket was singed, it had to have been a dream, right?

The door to the room opened and a very tired Marie walked in.

"Wow, you look as bad as Ah feel." She said to Kit as she unzipped her leather uniform.

"Did everything go ok?" Kit asked, as she climbed out of bed and grabbed the uniform off the floor where Marie dropped it.

Marie smiled. "Yea; Perfessor's back, and it felt soooooooo good ta feel him inside mah head. He is a telepath, and I KNEW it was him as soon as he said mah name inside mah head. Things will get better 'round here now that he's back. Ah hate ta admit it but Ah've kinda missed having people who could butt inta my head."

"You look beat." Kit said.

"Long flight. We just picked him up and Logan flew straight back. Ro and Logan are getting him settled back in his rooms. Logan sent me up ta get some rest. Ah didn't sleep much last night. SOMEONE kept havin loud dreams."

"Sorry." Kit hoped she hadn't actually talked in her sleep.

"Not a problem, shug, Ah have 'em mahself from time ta time. Logan has one hot bod."

"OHHHHH GOD." Kit dove back under the covers on her bed to cover the blush that she could feel all the way to her toes.

"Shug, don't worry about it. Jubilee can sleep through a nuclear blast. It's our secret, OK, besides, it's been six months and well, frankly Ah don't think Logan has ever gone this long without sexual release."

"God, Marie. He is such a damned jerk. And how the HELL do you know about his sex life."

Marie laughed and went into the bathroom. "Yea, he can be. But he has a heart of gold, even if he don't let many see it. The Logan in mah head don't ever hide much from me."

Kit heard the water running. She lay there thinking about what Jubilee had said, and how everyone seemed to respect and even like Logan, even if he was a total ass.

The water shut off, and Marie stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

"The Logan in your head?" Kit asked as Marie walked over to her dresser.

"Yea, Ah have touched him twice, nearly killed him both times, and Ah got a souvenir each time, a big dose of him, his personality, his life force, in mah head. Ah know he thinks you're hot, tha one in mah head anyway." Marie threw a conspiratorial grin across her shoulder as she got dressed. Kit blushed again. Even the Logan in Marie's head was an ass.

"There was a big box with yur name on it down by tha front door." She said as she opened a drawer in her chest. "Ah made Jubilee clean out tha other closet for ya ta use, there should be hangers in there, unless she took 'em all."

"Thanks, Marie. You are a really special person." Kit said as she climbed out of the covers. She grabbed her slip on shoes and put them on. Marie was pulling on her gloves when Kit headed to the door. She turned around and ran back. She hugged Marie.

"Thanks. I mean it." Marie looked at her dumbfounded. Kit ran out the door and down the stairs. Marie wasn't kidding, it was a big box, and how the hell was she going to get that up to her room. She looked around for someone to ask about helping, when a deep voice sounded behind her.

"Need help?"

"Yea, thanks." She said as she turned around. He had an unlit, half smoked cigar in his mouth, and his leather jacket on.

"No problem." He said as he picked up the box and threw it on one shoulder. "What the hell is in here?"

"It's my stuff from the dorm."

"And I thought Jubilee was a clothes horse." He pretended to stagger to the stairs.

"It is probably mostly books, asshole."

"So now it's asshole instead of Jerk. Not sure I like that, Mirror."

"It's whatever I feel like at the moment, depending on how much of an asshole or jerk you are being, and my name is KIT not Mirror."

He laughed as he set the box down by the bed. He straightened up and looked at Kit. She thought she would melt; his eyes were so hot, looking her over from top to toe. Marie was laughing at her desk.

"Guess she told you." She said to Logan. He glared at Marie, and growled.

"Next time, ya can carry yer own stuff." He headed out the door.

"Hey Jerk." Kit said. "Thank you."

His shoulders hunched in the doorway.

"Welcome, Kit."

She tore into the box, yep she was right mostly books. Her clothes were neatly folded in the bottom under her school books. She stacked the books on top of the chest. She never sold back books. It wasn't worth it, and she had figured out early that some of these were really good research material for papers for other classes. Marie came over and helped her unpack the box.

"Dang, Sociology of Law. Social Aspects of Supreme Court Decisions. What were ya a Pre Law major or something?"

"No, Sociology."

"Cool. Are ya planning on stayin with that, or changing yer major when ya get ta school here?"

"Planning on staying with it, I may change my focus, though. I was going to go into social work, particularly child protective services, but I may change to mutant issues."

"Yea, doin Pre Law myself, Ah'm focusing on law that affects mutants. Hey can Ah borrow this book. Ah might be able ta use it in this paper Ah'm workin on."

"Sure. Hey, you know those websites you had me pulling up. What was that all about?"

"Mah perfessor in school" Kit could hear the lower case in Marie's tone, "is workin on the whole mutant rights issue. She believes mutants and humans have tha same rights, but there are a whole bunch a groups out there that don't."

"Yea, I saw. That Friends of Humanity site was really scary."

"Yea, it gave me the chills when Ah looked at it." Marie was hanging up some of Kit's clothes in the closet. "Freaks like that's why places like this exist, where we can have some kinda normal life without fear."

"Well, I, for one, am glad it is here. Although, it looks like the whole reason I am here was just a plot by my sister and her boyfriend."

"What's goin on? What boyfriend?"

"This Sabertooth guy, evidently." Kit said. She was surprised when the blood seemed to drain from Marie's face. "Mia took off with him. My GRANDMOTHER helped them for Christ's sake."

"Why'd she do a dang fool thing like that? Creed is dangerous, really dangerous; Ah can't see anyone WANTING ta be with that animal." Kit was surprised by the violence in Marie's voice.

"Do you know him or something? What is my sister up against?"

"Creed was involved in kidnapping me, before Liberty Island. He scares tha shit outa me. He nearly killed Logan right after we met; Storm and Cyclops scared him off."

"Damn. And he had TEA with my grandmother. She told me something strange this morning on the phone, something about a primordial feminine, I didn't understand it all, but something about she was his mate or something and she was letting nature take its course. She said it will happen to me too, someday. It was flat weird. Who are Storm and Cyclops?"

"Have Hank look inta it. He might know something. If it is some kinda mutation or something, she might not have had much choice in it. Storm is Ro's codename when she is in the field, and Cyclops was Scott, he shot energy beams out of his eyes so he wore this visor with a red lense so he didn't kill anyone."

"Oh," Kit had to think about that, Ro had a code name, and so did this Scott guy, maybe Mirror wasn't so bad after all. "Mia had a choice, alright. I am betting she did it to get even with me, because I got to go to college and she didn't"

"She's yer sister, she wouldn't do anything ta hurt ya." Kit knew Marie was right.

"I know that, but still, I had to lose a semester of college over this."

"Think 'bout it this way, If yer mutation had woken up full time at school, ya would have lost tha semester anyway, and maybe in a way that ya couldn't make up. She did ya a favor, if ya think about it."

"Yea, I guess she did. Do you always look on the bright side of things?"

Marie was going through Kit's closet, putting away her clothes.

"Not always, Ah've had it rough too, but tha Perfessor, well he helped me a lot, ta not be so negative. So, no offense, Kit but can we talk about somethin other than Creed. There's a big party tonight, fer tha Perfessor. Why don't ya wear this cute outfit?' Marie was holding the skirt and top that Ro had bought. "There's even shoes ta match."

"Why not?" Kit said. "Hey, Marie, anytime you need help with school, if your X men thing takes too much time, let me know. I will be glad to help."

"Thanks, Kit." Marie blinked a few times. "Ah'm gona take a nap."

"Sure." Kit closed the door behind her; the outfit for later lay on top of her bed. She walked down stairs. The place was suddenly quiet. She headed for the elevator to go see if Hank was back when she felt an urge to go to Ro's office.

**Hello, Kit.** A voice said in her head.

She looked in the door of the office. An older man sat behind Ro's desk.

**It is actually my desk; she was just filling in for me. I understand your gift is to mimic Kinesthetic Memory. I was surprised; your mother never suspected you would have an active mutation. How is your grandmother?**

"Well, actually I think she wants you to call her." Kit said out loud as she sat in one of the chairs. **I don't want to offend you but isn't it rude to talk in someone's head without asking.**

He laughed out loud. "It is nice to finally meet you. Your mother was a good friend of Dr. McCoy's and spent quite a bit of time here helping with some research." His voice was gravely from disuse.

"Did you know I was going to be a mutant?"

"No. Your Y factor disguised your X gene."

"Y factor?"

"That is what your mother called it. I called it the primordial feminine. It is a block of data on your mitochondrial DNA, which allows you to recognize a mate, and in those mates with primitive instincts, allows you to help them to control their baser urges."

"You mean my grandmother isn't crazy? All this stuff is real, this mate crap she has been feeding Mia and I for years."

"No, Kit. And it isn't crap. Your grandmother is one of the smartest, wisest women I know. Erik and I both regretted that she met your grandfather before she met either of us."

"You had a thing for my grandmother?"

"I was young once." He chuckled. She felt something inside her head, like a whisper, she had a flash of one of the dreams she had been having across her eyelids.

**I hope you are not being too hard on Logan. His emotional stability is quite fragile at the moment. **

"I am kinda figuring that out. And stay out of my head, that's my PRIVATE life up there. The one place I can go and NOT have anyone tell me what to do."

He laughed again. "My apologies, I find it is easier to simply find the information I seek, I forget that it is an invasion of privacy at times. I am finding that many of the things I used to do without thinking, I am second guessing. As for Logan, patience is all I can say. Nature will take its course, as your grandmother says. Miranda is a strong woman; we thought we were going to lose her when your grandfather died."

"You and us both; I spent a lot of time with her then. It was the only time she didn't throw the whole wait for your mate thing in my face."

"You have a good heart, Kit. You always did. Change is something that all of us face, you just need to learn to accept it; it is an inevitable part of life."

"Thanks, I think. Now you are sounding like my mother."

He smiled. "Two women I admire greatly, I will take that as a compliment. Now, go find something to do, your grandmother was right, you need something to occupy your mind while waiting for your primordial feminine to fully kick in. You might try finding Ro, I think she is in the gardens."

"Thanks, again."

Kit walked out of his office. Somehow, she felt like everything was as it should be. She shook her head, she wasn't sure she was going to like having a telepath around. He was kind of creepy. She walked out the front door, and down one of the garden paths. She just kept walking for a while, until she entered the woods. She had always enjoyed walks in the woods back home and lost track of time. The dying light was her first clue to head back to the house. The lights were all on, and there were cars pulling up in the driveway; lots of cars. She slipped in one of the side doors and up the stairs. The sounds of people talking and china clinking and crystal chiming came up the main staircase. God it was going to be one of those parties.

She slipped into her room. Marie was already gone; Jubilee was putting the finishing touches on her outfit. Kit had to laugh, trust a fourteen year old to go Goth to a formal party. Jubilee waved at her across the room. "Later, gater." She said as she ran out the door. Kit grabbed a towel and headed into the bathroom. The hot water was actually running, Jubes must not have showered before changing. She had left the door to the room open, so the steam wouldn't fog the mirror. After her shower, she wrapped the towel around her and stepped into the bedroom.

"SHIT. Don't you knock?" She said. Logan was standing in the door.

"You left the door open, Darlin." He winked at her, leaning against the doorframe. His eyes raked over her towel clad form.

"You are insufferable. GET OUT." She screamed, clutching her towel tighter

"I am out." He was standing right outside the door.

She grabbed her pillow off the bed and threw it at him. He caught it in one hand. "Thanks, I needed an extra pillow, shredded mine last night."

"TMI, Logan, TMI."

He grinned. "Jubes thought you might want an escort to this thing; guess she was wrong." He pulled the door closed, as he walked away, taking her pillow with him.

"ARRGGGGGGGGGG" she screamed, throwing herself down on the bed. The man was a complete ass. Damn he had looked sexy in that western shirt and jeans though. "DOWN girl." She said out loud to herself as she got dressed, then continued her stream of thoughts under her breath. She had forgotten what Jubilee said about his damned hearing. "Arrogant, insufferable, bastard, how DARE he just stand there while I took a shower. I am going to get him, if it is the last thing I do, I will get him."

Ro had a good eye, the outfit was comfortable, and fit right. Being short, she hated buying skirts, they were always too long to look right, but this one came right to the knee. The top was a simple peasant top with a drawstring at the top that she could adjust.

She opted not to wear makeup, and just threw a brush through her hair. In the box from Stacy had been her favorite headband, and she pushed that into her hair. It kept the hair out of her face, and she could let the ends dry from the shower. She could hear the sounds of many voices, and music, from down stairs and knew this was going to be a huge party. She slipped on the sandals that Ro had bought to match the outfit and opened the door. She was dreading going into the crowd alone.

"Bout damned time."

He was leaning on the wall across from the door.

**Give him a chance.** Said a voice in her head.

"Have you been standing out here this whole time?"

"Yep."

"Ass."

"I thought I was an arrogant, insufferable bastard, but I can go back to ass."

She just stood there a moment. The asshole had overheard everything she said. She wasn't sure which was more mortifying; the fact that he had actually heard her, or the fact that she was actually considering going down to the party with him AFTER he had overheard her. Well at least she wouldn't have to go into the party alone. She took the arm that Logan held out to her. Her blood started racing the moment she touched him.

"Just don't do anything to embarrass yourself. You can get me back later."

"Ass" she hissed at him.

"Ya clean up nice, Kid." He said, she stopped at the top of the stairs in shock.

"Same back at ya, jerk."

He chuckled. She felt it vibrate through her hand on his arm and all the way down her spine. Yes it was going to be a VERY long evening, she hoped Hank was here.

The party was long and boring. They had set up a buffet style dinner, and there was a band playing in the ballroom. Most of the kids stayed in the rec room and she ended up playing foosball with Warren. Finally she and Marie and Warren and Bobby played doubles, but the girls lost. Marie seemed relaxed with Bobby, and twice Kit saw him brush her hair with his lips. She hoped the two of them would work things out soon.

Logan spent most of the evening leaning on a wall nearby, just watching. It was getting on her nerves. He would disappear every now and then and come back with a fresh beer. She always knew when his eyes were on her, and for some reason they didn't seem to leave her all evening.

Hank showed up after the game and asked her to dance.

"I don't know how."

"As if that could stop you; I imagine an intelligent young lady like yourself could divine a solution to that problem without straining your lovely mind."

"Ummm. Use my mutation, maybe." She said, glancing up at him through her eyelashes. He laughed loudly and led her to the dance floor. She could feel Logan's eyes burning through her back. She and Hank danced several times, and then Warren swept her onto the floor. Dancing with him was interesting because of the wings, but she managed. Bobby asked next and while they were dancing, Logan cut in.

Who would have thought Mr. Gruff and Grumbly knew how to dance. The five minutes she was in his arms was like a dream or a nightmare. She thought she was going to faint. Her blood was racing, her skin was hot, and she blushed the entire time. He never said a word, just kept her at arms distance for the dance, one hand on her waist, the other holding her hand, his thumb grazed across her palm several times. He looked over her shoulder, and not at her, and she felt humiliated. He wouldn't even look at her while dancing with her. When she finally caught his eyes with hers, they were smoldering. He pulled her close then, and just brushed her lips with his, and then left. She stood there for a second, in shock. By the time she came out of it he had taken off. She didn't see him again for the rest of the evening. She excused herself after the welcome home toasts, and went upstairs. On her bed was a new pillow, and a note.

"Sorry about being an ass. Sorry about…everything. I was out of line. Here's a pillow to replace the one you threw. Next we start working on your aim, you suck. The JERK"

She smiled. Ok maybe he wasn't so bad. She looked over at the CD player on her nightstand. Hers and her CDs had been in the box. She grabbed it and went looking for Logan. The least she could do was return it to him and thank him for the loan. Marie had pointed out which room was Logan's yesterday, on one of the few times Kit had gotten out of bed. She knocked on the door but there was no answer and the door was locked. She pressed her ear against the door but didn't hear anything inside.

She went down one of the sets of back stairs, looking for someone to ask if they had seen him. Everyone seemed to be in the front of the house at the party, so she turned to head back upstairs. That is when she saw him, through the window. He was standing by Jean's grave again. Kit felt a burning lump in her chest. Of course, his ghost, well, he sure didn't need her distracting him. Kit turned and walked back up the stairs. She put the CD player and CDs by his door, and went back to her room.

"Who am I kidding?" She asked herself as she got ready for bed. She curled up under the blankets, clutching the pillow he had left for her.

"Wake up, Sleepyhead." Marie said. She rolled over and rubbed her eyes. Morning already? She must have slept hard. The sheets were twisted but she didn't even remember having any dreams.

"What time is it?"

"Ten o'clock. You slept." Marie set a tray across her lap. "Compliments of the Chef" she said. There were waffles with strawberries, bacon and orange juice.

"Wow tell Hank thanks. Better yet I will when I see him."

"It's Logan's morning for breakfast." Marie said with a knowing grin.

"Oh." Kit pushed the plate back. She was suddenly not hungry, the burning lump was back.

"Hey you missed breakfast, it is Saturday, so no classes. Relax, and enjoy. Logan's waffles are to die for." Marie reached over and tore off a piece of waffle.

"I guess I am not hungry." Marie looked at her strangely.

"Bullshit. Ah saw what happened last night. He kissed ya."

"Yea and went straight out to Jean's grave to apologize. Sorry I just won't compete with a ghost."

"What. Shug, you need ta figure things out, Ah ain't ever seen Logan DANCE with anyone, and when he kissed ya, well hell, Jubes and Ah were huggin each other. We were so damned happy." Kit picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on it.

"Marie, I just can't talk about this right now." Kit could feel tears forming in her eyes. Marie pulled her into a hug, making sure her hair was between their faces.

"Ok." Marie whispered into her ear. "When ya do want ta talk, Ah'm here."

"Thanks." Kit whispered back around the lump in her throat.

The phone rang on the nightstand. Thank God she had remembered to change the ring tone.

She grabbed the phone.

"Hello."

"Is this Kit?" Said a gruff voice on the other end.

"Yea, who is this?"

"Don't worry about it. Is the runt treating ya ok?"

"What?"

He chuckled. "Guess not, or you wouldn't have ta ask." He chuckled.

"Who is this?"

"Don't worry about it I said." There was a pause on the other end and then "Mia says ta tell ya sorry."

"Mia, where's my sister?"

"She's right here, where she belongs." He growled at her through the phone.

"Let me talk to her."

There was silence on the phone, then Mia's voice.

"Hey, sis; sorry bout blowing up at you the other day" Mia said.

"Are you alright? Has he hurt you?" Kit was clutching the phone frantically.

"I am fine. Vic and I are doing ok. I love him, sis. Please trust me on this."

"You are insane." Kit said.

"No, just following nature's dictates." Her sister laughed into the phone.

"God, you have been talking to Grams."

"How are things going with Logan?" She could hear the teasing tone in her sister's voice.

"WHAT?"

"That's why you are there, you know. Not your mutation."

"Have you lost your mind?" What the hell was Mia talking about, and how the hell did she know about Logan.

"Nope, but you might lose yours if you don't stop fighting nature. Trust me, once you stop fighting it, and go with the flow, it gets really, REALLY nice. Got to go, Vic wants to go for a walk, if you know what I mean." The phone went dead.

"Was that yer sister?" Marie asked, concern and fear on her face.

"Yea, and her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? You mean that was Sabertooth on the phone. You have to tell someone." Marie was grabbing her pulling her out of the bed.

"Can I get dressed first?" Kit was wearing a T shirt she had pulled out of the laundry room yesterday.

"Yea, Ah guess, ya don't want ta be seen in Logan's T shirt after last night."

Kit blushed furiously as she pulled her clothes on. She was thought about tearing up the shirt, then just left it on the bed. She would deal with that issue later.

The two girls ran down the stairs ten minutes later, carrying the phone. The Professor wasn't in his office, Logan wasn't in the kitchen and Ro was nowhere to be found. They headed to the elevator to the lower levels to see if Hank was in his office.

When the doors opened, they heard voices coming from the opposite direction.

"It sounds like they are in tha Danger Room, or at least tha observation room next to it." Marie said.

Kit followed Marie. Logan, Xavier, Ro and Hank were looking at something through a window. Logan looked pretty upset; he looked like he had just hit the wall with his fist.

"What the hell are you doing, Chuck." He was screaming at the man in the wheelchair.

"What she asked me to do." Charles was focused on what was going on in the room beyond the window.

"This is INSANE." Logan started to storm out, when he saw the girls.

"Now what?" He was glaring at Marie, almost as if Kit wasn't even there.

**It is alright Kit, just leave the phone we will try to trace the call but I doubt that is possible. Your sister has made her choices, I know you love her, but she has to choose her own life. There will be no rescue attempt. She went with him willingly. **

Kit sat the phone down on the arm of the chair Xavier was sitting in.

**My body is old, even this one. I was without the use of my legs for many years before the transfer, and found that I forgot how to use them, even though I have the ability now.** He said, with a wry twist in her head.

Kit looked through the window, but all she could see was a column of fire, she didn't know how it was being contained, and frankly was more concerned about Mia and Vic than whatever experiment was going on. She turned from the window just as there was a blast of red light from the room beyond the window. Marie stood behind her, She could see her jaw drop, and the look of shock on her face.

"Oh, mah GOD." She whispered, Kit turned to see what she was staring at.

In the room below them were two people, lying on the floor. One was a man with brown hair, red sunglasses, a leather jacket and jeans. The other was a woman, with flowing red hair that covered her face. She was wearing the black leather X man uniform like Marie had worn.

"Ro you and Hank take them into the med lab. I want to make sure she is contained."

"Professor, this is wrong." Ro said, she had tears streaming down her face.

"Perhaps, but it is her power to use, and after all there is between all of us I had to let her try." Charles took Ro's hand. Kit could tell he was talking into her mind.

"And if it didn't work. Will we have to go through Alcatraz all over again?" She asked, out loud.

"No." Charles wiped a single tear from his face. "I will see to that."

"Fine; but I don't trust it." Ro said as she walked to the door.

"Neither do I." Logan said from the door.

"Logan, please, let her explain." Charles said to him

"There is no explanation for this. You don't just come back from the dead any time you want to, it just isn't natural. It is cruel to those you left behind. They just…" He put his hands to his face. Kit could see the pain in every line of his body.

"And this from a man who can't seem to die."

"That's different. At least I don't leave people to grieve."

"No, you just run away." Charles said, quietly. "No, it is her power, and this drained her, almost completely. She will be no more powerful than the Jean we all knew, for many years and that will give her time to integrate both sides of her personality into one without the risk of the power of the Phoenix. By the time she has this type of power again, she should be able to control it."

"That's what you thought last time, and you were controlling her mind at the time; locking away her powerful emotions, when she should have been learning to deal with them. " Logan yelled at Charles.

"Yes, and I understand now that I was wrong. I should not have kept the two separate, I should have allowed her to integrate both halves of her personality." Kit could tell the conversation went telepathic at that point. Kit stood against a back wall, Logan was blocking the door out, and so she had no escape.

"We will do this right, this time, Logan." Charles said a few moments later as he wheeled his chair toward the door, Logan backed away, allowing him by.

"Are you alright, shug?" Marie asked, placing a gloved hand on Logan's arm.

"NO. I ain't alright. I ain't sure I am ever going to be alright again." He was looking at Kit as he said it, but she didn't think he saw her. She didn't even know if he knew she was there. Suddenly he turned and walked down the hallway, stopping at the med lab observation window. He just stood there, shoulders hunched, defeated. Kit wanted to go to him, to put her arms around him and give him a shoulder to rest on, but she doubted he would accept it. She took two steps toward him, and was stopped.

"Let's go." Marie grabbed her elbow and started toward the elevator. "Leave him alone. He will work through this. He always does."

"How do you work through something like this?" Kit asked. She watched him, just staring in that window. Suddenly he doubled up his fist and punched the wall. He turned and looked at them, recognition on his face, just as the elevator door shut. He had looked like he was about to say something but she would never know what it was.

"With Logan, usually he runs. He'll go fight in tha bars up north for a while, and then when tha hurt is less he'll come back." Marie stated it like it was a fact, as the elevator rose carrying them to the first floor.

"That's not a healthy way to deal with things."

"Who said Logan was healthy." Marie looked at her. Kit could tell she was having a hard time dealing with what they had seen.

**I would appreciate if you would both keep silent about what happened. Until we are certain it was a success, I don't want the students aware.**

"Yes, Perfessor." Marie said into the air.

"Sure" Kit said.

The two of them walked slowly up the stairs. What a way to start a Saturday. Kit waited all day, hoping to see Logan, to talk to him about what she had seen. But she didn't think he ever came up out of the sub basements.

Marie was right. Two days later the sound of a motorcycle ripped through the evening air. He didn't even say goodbye to Marie or Jubilee, just left a note on his bed.

"Going to get away for a while, I need to get my head on straight. Marie, take care of Mirror, she is going to need it. Logan."

Kit threw herself into the life of the mansion. She started getting interested in the mutant's rights platform, and helped Marie and Hank with research, Marie for school, Hank for the UN. Her dreams were stronger than ever, and she doubted she would ever get a full night's sleep again.

Down in the basement, two people everyone thought were dead, slowly began to recover, to forgive each other and themselves for what they had done. The Professor and Hank spent most of their time in the basement. Kit hardly went down there. She didn't feel right about what she had seen in the Danger Room that day.

Then one day, out of the blue, they both walked out of the elevator as if nothing had happened. There was another welcome home party, this one more subdued. Many of the older students were confused, but glad to see them. And Logan stayed gone.

Kit avoided Jean and Scott. She really didn't know what to think about what had happened. The Professor had explained to everyone that Phoenix had actually absorbed Scott's psyche, and had herself, stayed at the mansion after Jean's death; as a ghost, or spirit, or just disembodied mental energy. She had managed to hang on, and when the Professor had come home, he had felt her. She had pleaded with him to let her make things right. He didn't explain exactly how it had happened. It had had something to do with holograms in the Danger Room and her making them real with her power. She had drained her powers completely, and had to start over learning to use them as they came back. Scott had been confused at first, but slowly began to relax, to feel at home.

By mid May, Jean and Scott announced that they would be going through with the wedding. Invitations were sent out, plans were made. Jean avoided Marie, and Kit by association. Marie wasn't comfortable around Jean anymore and let her know it. Kit's dreams became even more intense if that were possible, and still Logan stayed away.

Kit enrolled in summer classes at the local campus. The Professor insisted on paying for her tuition. She felt closer to him in a lot of ways than she had. He insisted that he considered her family, and wouldn't take NO for an answer. Her grandmother had come for a visit and she and Charles had spent quite a bit of time in his office, talking. Whatever was said in there, Grams gave Kit hell afterward, and Kit quit fighting the money issue. She wanted to finish school, and if Charles was going to pay for it, she would make him proud, she began to think of him as an older uncle or close family member.

Then one day in early June, just two weeks before the wedding, just the day before the big mutant's rights rally she had been working on at school, she woke to the sound of a motorcycle coming up the driveway. At first she thought she was dreaming. She had been dreaming of him coming back for several days now; the motorcycle, his booted feet on the back stair, the sound of his bag being dumped on the floor. She lay there for a moment before she realized she was awake. She smiled and rolled over in bed. Logan was home, all was right with the world.

"Jerk." She said into her pillow, and smiled. "Arrogant, egotistical ass; we missed you." She whispered in the air. The sound of the engine cut out as he turned it off. He would be coming up those stairs soon, and maybe, just maybe stop by to say hi to Marie and Jubilee. Well a girl could hope.

**WASTED YOUTH**

Wasted youth! Wasted youth!  
spoken:  
I remember everything!  
I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday  
I was barely seventeen, and I once killed a boy with a Fender guitar  
I don't remember if it was a telecaster or a stradacaster  
But I do remember that it had a heart of chrome and a voice like a horny angel  
I don't remember if it was a telecaster or a stratacaster  
But I do remember that it wasn't at all easy  
It required the perfect combination of the right power chords  
And the precise angle from which to strike  
The guitar bled for about a week afterward  
And the blood was sough dark and rich, like wild berries  
The blood of the guitar was Chuck Berry red  
The guitar bled for about a week afterward, but it rung out beautifully  
And I was able to play notes that I had never even heard before  
So I took my guitar, and I smashed it against the wall  
I smashed it against the floor  
I smashed it against the body of a varsity cheerleader  
Smashed it against the hood of a car  
Smashed it against a 1981 Harley Davidson  
The Harley howled in pain, the guitar howled in heat  
And I ran up the stairs to my parents' bedroom  
Mummy and daddy were sleeping in the moonlight  
Slowly I opened the door, creeping in the shadows  
Right upto the foot of their bed  
I raised the guitar high above my head  
And just as I was about to bring the guitar crashing down  
upon the centre of the bed, my father woke up, screaming " Stop!"  
"Wait a minute! Stop it boy! What do ya think you're doin'?  
That's no way to treat an expensive musical instrument!"  
And I said: "God damn it daddy!  
You know I love you, but you got a hell of a lot to learn about rock 'n roll"

**EVERYTHING LOUDER THAN EVERYTHING ELSE**

Wasted youth! Wasted youth!  
I know that I will never be politically correct  
And I don't give a damn about my lack of etiquette  
As far as I'm concerned, the world could still be flat  
And if the thrill is gone, then it's time to take it back  
If the thrill is gone, then it's time to take it back

Who am I? Why am I here? Forget the questions, someone gimme another beer  
What's the meaning of life, what's the meaning of it all?  
You gotta learn to dance before you learn to crawl  
You gotta learn to dance before you learn to crawl

So sign up all you raw recruits, throw away those designer suits  
You got your weapons cocked, your targets in your sights  
There's a party raging somewhere in the world  
You gotta serve your country, gotta service your girl  
You're all enlisted in the armies of the night  
And I ain't in it for the power, and I ain't in it for the health  
I ain't in it for the glory of anything at all  
And I sure ain't in it for the wealth  
But I'm in it till it's over and I just can't stop  
If you wanna get it done, you gotta do it yourself  
And I like my music like I like my life  
Everything louder than everything else, everything louder than everything else

Wasted youth! Wasted youth! Wasted youth! Wasted youth!  
They got a file on me and it's a mile long  
And they say that they got all of the proof  
That I'm just another case of arrested development  
And just another wasted youth

They say that I'm in need of some radical discipline  
They say I gotta face the truth  
That I'm just another case of arrested development  
And just another wasted youth

They say I'm wild and I'm reckless, I should be acting my age  
I'm an impressionable child in a tumultuous world  
And they say I'm at a difficult stage  
But it seems to me to the contrary  
Of all the crap they're going to put on the page

That a wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age  
A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age  
A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age  
A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age  
A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age  
A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age

If you want my views of history then there's something you should know  
The three men I admire most are Curly, Larry and Mo!  
If you don't worry 'bout the future, sooner or later it's the past  
And if they say the thrill is gone, then it's time to take it back  
If the thrill is gone, then it's time to take it back

So sign up all you raw recruits, throw away all those two-bit suits  
You got your weapons cocked, your targets in your sights  
There's a party raging somewhere in the world  
You gotta serve your country, gotta service your girl  
You're all inducted in the armies of the night  
And I ain't in it for the power, and I ain't in it for the health  
I ain't in it for the glory of anything at all  
And I sure ain't in it for the wealth  
But I'm in it till it's over and I just can't stop  
If you wanna get it done, you gotta fight for yourself  
And I like my music like I like my life  
Everything louder than everything else


	7. I'd Do Anything for Love

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

Chapter VII

I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)

Kit woke up to a shift of her mattress, and warmth at her back. She looked back over her shoulder. Logan was sitting on the edge of her bed. The other two girls were still asleep.

"Don't you have someplace to be?" Kit asked sleepily, "Like your room."

"Yea, I just thought I would come and say hi. And you have class tomorrow."

He stood up.

"Yea, I do have class tomorrow. I am going to be on campus all day." She rolled back over. "See ya later, jerk."

"I missed ya, Kit." He said softly as he stood up.

"I missed you, too, Logan."

He walked slowly to the door. She turned over and watched him slowly reach for the door. He had been tense sitting on the bed, she had felt the tension in him, but at the door his shoulders were slumped, and he looked tired. She jumped up out of the bed and ran to him, forgetting she was wearing his old T-shirt and not much else. She threw her arms around him, as he turned, startled.

"I really did miss you." She whispered against his chest. "It got too quiet, and throwing pillows at the girls is just no fun."

He chuckled. He put his hands on her arms and pushed her back. His head was bowed and she could only see his dark hair, curling slightly across his forehead. She reached up and tilted his chin so she could see his eyes. They were tired, dark, lost, and hard, very very hard. She wanted to give him something, something that would ground him, something to soften him. She gently kissed his lips.

She wasn't sure what happened but it felt like a dam had burst. His hands crushed her to him, one in her hair, the other against her back, grinding her hips against his. His mouth was demanding, hard, and needy. She groaned against his lips, one hand trapped between them, her fingers still on his chin, the other laced through his hair, trying to pull him closer. It was like he was trying to devour her, to taste every part of her he could reach. His need became so strong, so demanding it began to frighten her.

Suddenly he let her go. He backed up to the door and opened it, a look of shock, and pain on his face. Lying on the ground outside the door was his bag, sticking out of the top was the pillow she had thrown at him all those months ago. He picked up the bag, and pulled the door shut, slowly his eyes never leaving her, as if he were trying to memorize her. Kit's blood started to slow down and she could hear the breathing of the other two girls in the room.

"DAMN." Marie said.

"What the hell was that? Welcome home Wolvie." Jubilee said. Kit just dropped to the floor.

Both girls rushed over to where she was sitting. Marie grabbed a robe and threw it over her shoulders and then hugged her. Tears were streaming down Kit's face. What the hell just happened? What had she done? She could still taste him, her body was still sore where he had crushed her against him, her lips were bruised, and he was gone. He had stopped. Why?

"Why?" She said over and over as she leaned against Marie sobbing quietly. A gentle voice entered her mind.

**Mirror, be calm. It was your fear, it confused him. **She heard a mental sigh.** He is cutting up my furniture again. Calm down and go to him. Tell him it wasn't him you were afraid of. **Charles's voice had become familiar to her over the last few months.

**I can't.** She thought to him. That was something else she was getting better at.

**Then this will be much harder than it needs to be for both of you.**

"I hardly know him. He just looked so lost. I wanted to help." Marie rocked her as she cried.

"Well, I would definitely say he found SOMETHING." Jubilee said, gleefully, she still hadn't figured out there was something desperately wrong.

"Jubes ya ain't helpin. Go get a cool rag from tha bathroom."

They all three jumped when they heard a crash from down the hall. Kit jumped up and ran to Logan's room. The door was open. He was kneeling in the middle of the room, shirt in shreds hanging from his shoulders, soaked with blood. There was blood splattered all over the room. His claws were out, the mahogany dresser was in pieces, his bag was thrown on the bed and fiberfill was everywhere in the room. What was left of the pillow casing lay in one hand, sliced into shreds, and covered in blood. Kit ran over to him, and knelt in front of him.

"Logan" she whispered, "Logan" a little louder. He didn't seem to see her there, his eyes were turned inward, and she could see a cut on his face, healing as she watched.

"What the hell did that pillow ever do to you?" She yelled at him, reaching out to touch his shoulder. One clawed hand came up and grabbed her wrist before she touched him.

He looked at the floor, drops of moisture landing between his knees. "I'll leave." He said softly. "You won't have to be afraid of me. I will get as far away from you as I can. I can't take your fear. I won't ever hurt you, Kit. I'll leave; you never have to see…." She stopped him with her mouth. He didn't react at first, and then it was as if he woke up. He crushed her against him again. Tears were flowing down his face. The both started at the sound of the door slamming against the wall.

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing, Logan?" Scott demanded. He was standing in the doorway, in a pair of pajama pants, Jean, Ro, and several of the kids behind him.

Logan lifted his lips from hers, tucked her head under his chin, gently, against his chest. "Non o' yer damned business, Cyke. Now get the hell out." SNIKT, his claws retracted into his arms. His hands gently stroked her back.

"Damn it Logan, You can't just go around destroying furniture whenever you feel like it." Scott said. "And what is with all the blood. Were you trying to kill yourself?"

"Scott, leave him alone." Jean said from the hallway. Kit could feel Logan tense against her. He had forgotten about Jean. She tried to pull back but his arms were like bands of steel.

"No, Darlin, I ain't letting go." He whispered against her hair.

"Kit, are you alright?" Ro asked from the hallway.

"Yes." She said. "Everyone, just leave us alone."

"Like that is going to happen." Scott said. "This is extremely irresponsible at best Logan, she is a student and a guest here and you can't just go manhandling her whenever…"

Logan moved like lightning. One second he was kneeling in front of her holding her tight, the next he had Scott against the wall by his throat. She wobbled a little, and then recovered.

"Logan, NO." She screamed, rushing over to him, grabbing his arm. Jean was standing at the door, Ro holding her arms, keeping her from entering the room.

"The lady said leave us the hell alone, BoyScout, NOW TAKE YOUR GIRL and get the FUCK out of my ROOM."

"Logan, put Scott down." Jean said gently. Instead Logan threw him straight at her.

"You better get a leash on this thing of yours, Phoenix. If not I am going ta kill him."

"LOGAN." Jean shouted, her eyes beginning to blaze, as she untangled from the thrown Scot and stood up.

Logan reached over and grabbed the edge of the door.

"NOW GET THE HELL OUT!" and slammed it in the faces of the crowd in the hallway. Kit was had walked over to where he had dropped the pieces of the pillow and was kneeling, trying to start picking up the mess on the floor. He leaned his forehead against the door, his shoulders slumped. "Now, where were we?" He shook his head, as if trying to focus.

"Oh, yea, I was leaving. You don't need me, you don't need my mess. You don't need this kinda crap going on all the time. Ya don't need people tryin ta kill ya because of me." He turned around to face her, leaning on the door as if it was the only support he could find. They just stared at each other for a moment. He wiped his face, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. "Why the hell did ya have ta kiss me?"

Just then, her cell phone came sliding in under the door. It slid between his braced feet and stopped against her knee. It was open and on speaker.

"Happy Birthday, Runt."

"Creed. Where the hell are ya. I'll kill ya." SNIKT.

"Not this year, runt. I am so far away ya couldn't even get my scent."

"Where's my sister." Kit demanded, why did this asshole keep calling her?

"I'm right here." Mia replied in the background.

Logan slid down the door until he was sitting on the floor, hands resting on his knees, claws crossed in front of him. He was dazed.

"Just what the hell is going on?" He was looking at Kit as he said it.

"Well, I was hoping you would have unwrapped your birthday present by now, but I guess you are too much of a pansy ass. Kit, give us a call when he has fucked ya. I want to know how he liked it."

"Vic, you are so mean…." The phone hung up as Mia was talking.

"What the fuck was he talking about?" They both said it at the same time.

"What birthday present?" Kit asked.

"I don't know."

Suddenly some things that people had been saying to her began to make a whole lot more sense. "THAT SON OF A BITCH" She screamed. "THAT CANIVING TWO FACED WHORE I CALL A SISTER." She picked up the cell phone and threw it at the door over Logan's head. "MY WHOLE GOD DAMNED FAMILY IS IN ON THIS."

"I hope you weren't aiming AT me, Darlin. Ya missed." Logan said as the parts of the phone rained down on his head. He had a strange look on his face, as if he were really seeing her for the first time since he left her room.

Kit just bent over at the waist and put her face to the floor and screamed. She pounded her fists against the floor and just kept screaming. She could hear pounding, but for some reason she couldn't stop screaming.

"Whoa, Darlin." She heard Logan get up and walk over to her. He knelt down right next to her head, and grabbed both hands with his, stopping them. "Let's step back a second."

She looked up at him, tears streaking down her face, she knew she looked wild, angry, but damn it she was. He helped her to her feet, but she was swaying so badly he had to pick her up. He carried her to the chair by the window. Her head was lying on his shoulder.

"Now, you want ta tell me what just happened?" He said as he stroked her back with one hand, and brushed her hair out of her face with the other. She could hear raised voices outside the door, Jean in particular, screaming that Logan needed to be stopped. The door opened slowly. He growled.

"Now, don't bite mah head off. Ah'm just checkin on Kit. That phone call really spooked Jubes when she answered it. Jean is raisin a ruckus, Scott is ready ta blast tha door down, and Ro is tryin ta keep them both outa here. Was that really Creed?"

"I'm ok, Marie. Yea it was Creed. I just lost it, a whole bunch of puzzle pieces fell into place all at once. Go take care of Jubilee." She was relaxing against Logan's chest. Marie looked over at them, at the mess in the room, and back over at them. "Damn, you ain't havin sex in our room. Ah ain't cleanin up tha mess." She shut the door just as an empty beer bottle hit it.

"AND STAY OUT." Logan shouted. Kit giggled a bit at Marie's comment.

"Now can we get some kind of peace?" He said as he stroked her back. She just lay there for a moment, enjoying being in his arms. She had dreamed about things like this for months, and didn't want to waste any second of this moment.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, I don't know." His hand stopped on her back.

"I mean I think I have some answers but I don't know if they will give us any peace."

"Well, let's start there."

**Yes lets.**

"Get the hell out of my head, Chuck." Logan shouted into the room.

**Then let me in.**

"Fine."

The door opened again. This time it was Professor Xavier. His wheel chair crunched over the remains of the poor cell phone.

"Now, let's start with what we know." He said, not even fazed by both Kit and Logan's states of half dress.

"Kit you came to us because of an attack on your house, staged by your sister and her paramour. Your mother, grandmother and sister all felt you needed to be here. Nothing was done to encourage you to come here until your sister met Victor Creed, and he told her about Logan. Your sister takes off with Creed, with your grandmother's assistance, something I still need to discuss with Miranda, after you are safely here. There have been several taunting phone conversations between you and Creed, asking about Logan and how he is treating you. And now he calls, presumably, from his comments, on Logan's birthday."

"That about sums it up, Charles." Kit said. One of Logan's hands was resting on the outside of her bare thigh. She had her head turned so she could see Charles, but was still leaning on his shoulder.

"Kit, please tell me your interpretation of these events, which seemed to have caused you so much distress?" Logan's hand went back to stroking her back, trying to calm her down.

"That Mia and Sabertooth and maybe my Grams set me up, to come up here, to trigger whatever this primordial feminine thing you say I have, around Logan, to force him to react to it as some kind of sick birthday present or something."

"I don't think your grandmother was in on it originally. But she did aid and abet the two who were."

"Wait a damned minute. All of this was a set up; ta get the two of us in bed."

"Not exactly, Logan."

"Then what, exactly, I wana know EXACTLY what is going on."

"Then we need to go back two generations, at least. I met Kit and Mia's grandmother right after her sister, Alice, committed suicide. Miranda thought that the suicide was caused because her sister was unable to complete a bond. A bond that Miranda and her husband, and three of her sisters and their husbands all seemed to have. When Nancy was old enough to go to college, Miranda sent her here, to live. She met Hank McCoy here at the Institute. We thought they had a bond similar to what her parents had."

"Until she met my Dad?"

"Yes. At that point she began doing research, trying to track down exactly what caused the bond between her and your father, especially since all three of her sisters related very similar experiences, as did her mother and her aunts. She was looking for an X gene; a mutation that was somehow breeding true in her family. What she found was the Y factor; a block of mitochondrial DNA that can be traced back to the original strands of human DNA. It is present in all of us, stronger in some than in others, but because it is in the mitochondrial DNA it is not a mutation."

"Whoa. You are saying that all this crap is because of some mutation that isn't a mutation because it goes back to when humans jumped down from trees?"

"Yes, Logan, that is exactly what I am saying. Originally it was a mutation, it allowed a female to find and ensnare a single mate, who would care for her and her young in a predominantly monogamous relationship. Hank has been looking into the relationship between the Y factor and the X gene. Some women have a stronger link to the Y factor if they have an X gene, others, like your sister, have little to no X gene at all, but are extremely strong in Y factor. Your entire family, all of the women as back as far as recorded history can go, have probably all been very strong in the Y factor."

Logan's hands stopped stroking her back. His body was becoming tense under her.

"Logan, it isn't what you are thinking. Kit has no control over what she is. No woman does. This is simply the part of the DNA that controls what and how she looks for a mate. I commend her on her display of control with this trial she has been going through."

"Trial, is it?" She could tell he was really getting pissed.

"Yes, Logan; take the frustration you have been feeling, your deep subconscious need for Kit, that you have been fighting all these months, and realize she has been fighting it too. Instead of just coming in here and demanding you give her what she needs, she avoided you, at first, tried to convince herself she didn't like you, did everything in her power to make sure you didn't like her, convinced herself that any acts of kindness on your part didn't happen, to the point of returning your gift."

"What gift?"

"The CD player." Kit said softly.

"God, I forgot about that."

"She has tried to find other things to occupy her time and her mind, but believe me it doesn't make sleep any easier, and for those of us with telepathic powers, it is hard not to eavesdrop on her dreams. And what is in there is dark, primal and full of need."

"Gee, thanks. I think I am going to start echoing Logan, Stay out of my head."

Logan's arms tightened around her. He was still tense, but at least he wasn't ready to kill her.

"I think I will leave you two to finish this discussion alone. Just one thing, Logan; before you go off half cocked and destroy any more expensive pieces of furniture, what she fears is losing control, not you."

"Get out, Wheels. The kid and I need ta talk."

**I doubt there will be much talking.** Charles said in her head as he wheeled himself from the room.

"So you weren't afraid of me earlier?"

"No." She said as she laid her head on his shoulder again.

He growled softly against her hair, the hand on her thigh starting to stroke gently. "So if I said I want ya it woudn't scare ya?"

Kit laughed. "Logan, I can FEEL that against my side."

He lifted his hand off her thigh and lifted her chin. She looked into his blue eyes, and there was a definite sparkle there. "So what are ya going ta do about it?" He said right before he kissed her.

"I thought about making you breakfast. But I can't beat your waffles." She smiled when she could breathe again.

He laughed. "Darlin, I live on instinct, and food is the last survival need on my mind at the moment." He slipped his free hand under her knees and stood up. He carried her over to the bed and shoved the bag onto the floor.

"Hrmm, not food, there don't seem to be any leaks in the roof so shelter isn't an issue, I can't think of any other survival instincts that need to be met." She teased him, one hand tangled in his hair.

"Reproduction, Darlin." He said as he laid her down on the bed. She didn't think at all for a long while after that.

Halfway across the continent, Vic and Mia came up for air. She still couldn't believe her grandmother and Magneto were old friends. She had called in the middle of Vic and Erik's meeting. Erik had been reading Vick the riot act, telling him to get that stinking human out of his camp when the phone had rung in Vic's pocket. Erik had been furious, he had used his powers to grab the phone, and started to crush it, but Vic stopped him. He allowed Vic to answer the phone, and been shocked when he had handed it to him. Five minutes on the phone with her grandmother, and Erik looked at Vic and told him to forget it, Mia could stay as long as she liked, and could call anyone she damned well pleased.

That afternoon, after Mia and Vic had gone through all the gear and cleaned out what they didn't need; Erik had come by. He apologized for his behavior the night before and told her that if there was anything she needed to please ask. He also told her to give her grandmother his best when she spoke to her next. Mia had just laughed after he left. Vic was grinning from ear to ear.

After that, Pyro and Mystique were the only issues she had. Toad and most of the others accepted her because Erik and Vic did. Pyro didn't like Vic, and made it plain, including two attacks on her to get to him. All that did was make Erik angry, and Vic teach her to fight. She could almost hold her own with Mystique now; but that damned metamorph wouldn't stay in one shape long enough to keep track of her. She was getting tired of being attacked in the back. Vic was keeping her close, but Erik had a job for him tomorrow, and she was getting a little worried about what Mystique would do.

"Darlin, don't worry. Erik wants you with him tomorrow. She can't bother you, at least not physically. He won't let her." He stroked her back. The air bed had been a good idea, at least in theory, but his claws had made short work of it. Somewhere they had picked up an old foam pad that they made sure got packed every time they moved. The constant living in the wild was getting to Mia, but she was doing her best to hold up for Vic.

"I know you are tired." He said softly. "I wonder if the runt has figured things out yet."

"Well, hrrm you practically tied Kit up in a red bow and threw her in his bed. That phone call wasn't very subtle."

"Hey who said I was subtle." He arched his hips under her, causing her to moan.

"Not me." She grinned down into his face.

"Don't you two ever quit?" Mystique said as she entered the tent unannounced.

"Nope." Vic grinned at her. "Waddya want, Raven."

"Erik wants you; planning for tomorrow." She turned and walked from the tent, "and tell the human swine to put some clothes on."

Vic growled. "It's ok, Lover I am used to her taunts by now." Mia climbed down from his chest.

"Stay here, and be careful. Pyro is watching his back after the last time, and as long as Raven is in the meeting you should be safe."

He left the tent, and stalked off. She threw on a sun dress and started to clean up the tent. There were clothes that had been left to dry that needed to be folded and put back in the bag. Vic had started taking care of their food after Pyro tried to poison her with food from the main food tent, so she cleaned up the dishes in the bucket of water. She loved Vic, but she was really starting to long for a little more security. Maybe after this job tomorrow, they could stay in one place for a while.

"Hey sexy in the tent." Toad called out. She laughed Mort was actually becoming a good friend, if you could stand his jokes.

"Hey. Mort." He came inside.

"Creed sent me over ta keep an eye on ya…two eyes but no hands to be honest." He pouted. "You ever gona let me take you away from all of this."

"Nope. No offense, Mort, but after Victor, any man is just small potatoes." He laughed and started helping her wash dishes. He spent a lot of time in their camp, when the sex didn't drive him away screaming in horror and frustration. "I still can't believe Erik let ya stay. I was sure he was gona tell Creed it was you or the Brotherhood."

"Well, let me let you in on a little secret, It wasn't my winning personality that won him over."

"He he he, I coulda told ya that."

He helped her get the gear packed up and ready to move out. After this job tomorrow they were going to be on the move again.

"You make sure you wear jeans tomorrow. We don't need Creed berserk again like last time."

"I was planning on it." They had had to make a quick move and she had made the hike in a skirt, she had fallen and cut her knee, and Victor had nearly killed several people trying to get to her. It had been after that most people left her alone. No one wanted Creed going berserk on them. Mortimer and Erik were the only ones to really talk to her besides Vic.

"Erik would like you and Vic to join him for dinner, if you don't have any pressing plans." Mort said.

"Will Raven be there?"

"No, he is sending her on ahead tonight."

"Then I can't think of any pressing plans." She grinned. Mort jumped up. He could hear Creed's heavy footsteps coming up the path. "Till later, then Mia." He said as he left the tent.

"That's a good woman ya got there, Creed." He wiggled his eyebrows at him. Mia laughed as she always did. Mort stopped getting a rise out of Vic with that trick months ago.

"Yep, and getting better every day."

"She's gona make ya soft if yer not careful."

"Nope. I doubt that."

He came into the tent. She was sitting in one of the camp chairs, everything packed but what they would need tonight.

"Did Mort help with the packing?"

"Yes."

"Hrmmmph."

"What?"

"I think yer fallin down on the job, Darlin. You're supposed ta be makin me soft. I feel awfully hard at the moment."

She laughed and walked to where he had sat on the floor of the tent. "Well I guess we are going to have to do something about that. It's going to be a rough job though." He pulled her down into his lap.

"I am sure you are up to the challenge."

Kit woke up sore. Damn that man had stamina. She was alone in the bed, and the shreds from his fight with the pillow were gone. The pieces of the dresser had been removed, she must have slept soundly. She looked around and saw a pair of jeans, a shirt, and shoes on the end of the bed. She sat up slowly and looked at the clock, 3:32 in the afternoon. Well so much for her classes today. She slowly put her feet on the floor and reached for the clothes.

"I wouldn't do that, Darlin. I like the view." He was sitting in the chair by the window, smoking a cigar.

"I thought it was no smoking in the house?" She glared at him. She would be damned if several great hours in bed was going to make her put up with his crap the rest of the time.

"I agreed with Chuck that I would smoke in my room if the window was open."

"Oh." Not that she was complaining much, it did remind her of home.

"How are ya feelin?" He asked, taking another drag on his cigar. He was wearing a pair of jeans, and not much else.

"You are a demon." She glared at him across the room. He chuckled.

"Nope, that would be Kurt." She shot him another glare. She didn't know who the hell Kurt was, but she hoped to high heaven she didn't meet him soon.

She stood up slowly, wincing at the stiffness in her thighs and hips. "Are you OK, I didn't hurt ya did I?"

"It's nothing a hot bath won't fix."

"DAMN." He gripped the arm of the chair with his free hand, and winced. She could watch his thoughts walk across his face, guilt, remorse, and then resolve.

"Logan, don't start that crap. I am not in the mood for one of your tear up the furniture antics. I have had sex once before in my life, and that was prom night three years ago. So get over yourself already."

"Well, either he did a damn good job, or I am better than I thought." He raised an eyebrow at her and took another drag, his hand relaxing on the arm of the chair.

"Shut up." She threw a pillow at him.

"Darlin, ya keep doin that. You're gona run out of pillows." He chuckled as he caught it in mid air and threw it back on the bed.

She walked slowly to the bathroom door. Thank God he had one of the whirlpool tubs, and damn him it was already full and steaming and turned on. She didn't even hear him move but suddenly she was in the air and being lowered into the hot water.

"I kinda figured you might need something after that workout." He whispered against her ear.

"You call that a workout. I would hate to see what you call an afternoon of wild sex."

He chuckled again, the deep one that made her spine tingle. "Yea, Darlin. It's been a while for me too. Only with me, it just makes me need it more and more intensely."

"God help me." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Darlin," he sat on the side of the tub. "If you want out of this mess, I ain't going ta keep ya."

"What. The God help me, was a give me strength thing…I am going to need it with you."

She heard a voice in the outer room, it sounded like a woman.

"Be back in a minute, Darlin."

She heard voices in the outer room, and then Logan shouting.

"I don't care what you have done, I don't care if ya do smell like her and he smells like him. I watched ya die. I killed ya on my own claws. You were DEAD. And I dealt with it, for six fucking months, I dealt with it, I said good bye every night. I cried, Jean I CRIED. You of all people should know how rare that is. YOU WERE DEAD. I ain't a switch ya can just turn on and off. I LET GO. I MOVED ON. You are fucking marrying your 'good guy'. I ain't going to be your adventure fuck, especially not now. I got a woman now, and you ain't temptation enough to screw it up."

"LOGAN, don't shut me out." She heard Jean cry as the door slammed shut. She smelled smoke, and not cigar smoke, and heard Jean screaming outside the room.

"Sorry about that, Darlin." He said as he came back in.

"Well, that certainly cleared a few things out of the air." She was lying back in the tub, letting the warm water soak away all the aches.

"Sit up, Darlin." He said. He began to scrub her back.

"So what was all that bullshit about if I want out …? Then you turn around and turn down JEAN of all people because and I quote 'I got a woman now'"

"Umm…" He leaned down and nibbled on her ear. "I think you are right, it's bullshit." His hands were rubbing soap up and down her back, his hands stroking back up her sides, causing tingles down her spine.

"Good. Now about that class tomorrow," She looked back over her shoulder where he was sitting on the side of the tub. "Not only NO but HELL NO. I have worked three and a half weeks to get this rally together tomorrow. Hank is going to speak; Marie and I will be there. This is in support of Mutant Rights and I am not staying here to get my ass kicked by you."

"Was that ass kicked, or ass kissed."

"Either."

"Ok, I'll go with you."

"Yea, right; Friends of Humanity has already scheduled a protest demonstration. I am NOT going to have you out there flashing claws." She stood up and climbed out of the tub. She grabbed a towel but he snatched it out of her hands, she could tell he was getting pissed again.

"NOW WAIT JUST A DAMNED MINUTE. I am good enough to fuck, but not be seen in public with."

"WHAT? I didn't say that. But your temper is on a very short leash at the moment, and I don't want you hurting any anti mutant protesters."

"So, I can go if I promise to behave myself."

"It may get ugly, Logan. Hank and Marie and my Poly Sci professor and I all have a security detail. If anything goes bad, we will get out of there. These FoH freaks are nasty. Take a look at their website some time. They believe in killing kids with the X factor at birth."

"Keep talkin, Kid. You are talkin yourself into a private Wolverine security detail."

"Fine, wear a nice shirt, you will be on TV. No X uniform."

"Now you are tellin me how to dress. I think it is time for another workout woman."

"Oh, I am not sure sex with you while you are pissed is a good idea." She said, stalking out of the bathroom, naked. He followed her out of the bathroom, crossing to the bed and grabbing her clothes.

"Get dressed." He threw them at her.

"What?" she was confused.

"If you won't be in class tomorrow, you are getting your lesson tonight. Let's go." There was something in his face, something that was causing her to be concerned. If she didn't know better she would call it fear.

"Logan?"

"GET DRESSED." He roared.

She pulled on her underwear, and then her jeans and T shirt. She slipped on her shoes. What had happened? He didn't say a word, just snatched the door open, and grabbed her arm, pulling her out into the hallway. He pushed her in front of him, toward the top of the stairs.

Scott was coming up the stairs.

"Well, you are still breathing," He said, glaring at Logan. "That is a good thing."

"Butt out, BoyScout." Logan growled at him.

"Logan, I can't allow…" SNIKT. Logan popped one set of claws and pointed them at Scott.

"You ain't allowing shit." He gave her a small push in the middle of her back with the other hand, moving her down the stairs.

She walked to the elevator; he reached around her, pushing the button, one hand still on her back.

She walked slowly down the hallway, when the doors opened and walked into the gym. He threw a practice knife at her. "Close your fucking eyes." He snarled at her.

"What."

"Use your mutation, close your fucking eyes."

"I don't have to anymore; I can see the energy without closing my eyes."

"Close your fucking eyes." He said as he stalked up on her.

She closed her eyes. His body was practically glowing. The power flowed through the air and brought her to her knees. He was throwing everything he had at her. She absorbed it, and then began to move. She blocked every kick, every thrust with the knife, every blow. Then she began to fight back, until, when she opened her eyes she was sitting on his chest, with the practice knife at his throat, one hand on the end of the pommel, ready to thrust it into his skull.

"Now, I know you can take care of yourself." He said, sadly, one hand reaching up to cover the one on the pommel of the knife.

"Why the hell did you do that?" She was furious. What he had done, force feeding her every bit of kinesthetic memory he had, was almost overwhelming. The look on his face was almost one of grief, as if he knew that by what he had done he had taken something from her, by giving her his abilities, he had taken an innocence that could never be given back. Her muscles remembered what it took to kill, and kill often, and she doubted she would be able to hold back if it came down to it, his memories would take over. She looked into his eyes; the sadness there was causing a knot of pain in her chest.

"I KNOW what these Friends of Humanity freaks are like, Darlin. Even if I am there, you will be a target. Without my healing ability, the only way I can keep you alive is to make sure you are as deadly as I am. I didn't have time to train you; I had to use your mutation to make sure you got it on the first try." His hands came up to grip her hips, to push her off of him. For some reason, she knew if she let him, he would leave, and she wasn't going to allow that. She threw the knife away and kissed him, hard.

He rolled them over, his hands capturing hers over her head. He held her pinned with one hand, while he lifted up away from her with the other one.

"Not going ta work, Darlin." He said. "I ain't Creed; I ain't completely ruled by my instincts." He inhaled the air around her, as if memorizing her scent.

"No shit." She struggled against his hands. "I am not going to let you just walk out after what happened. I don't know where you got the idea I didn't want to be seen with you, I said your temper is out of control, something you are proving right now. I want this to be peaceful tomorrow; I don't want Wolverine being what makes the news."

"Is that really it?" He glared down at her. "Not that I am too much of an animal for you."

"Yes, jerk, that is really it. I don't know where you are getting this CRAP. Animal, my ass. If you keep your promise, and wear a nice shirt, you can go and play nice mutant for the cameras. First sign of your temper getting out of control and you get out of sight. Is that clear?"

"This is all about PR? It has nothing to do with us?"

"YES DAMN IT."

**Forgive the interruption, Logan, Kit. I quite agree with the why and how of teaching what she needed to know before tomorrow, however, this rally is extremely important to her. To allow you to jeopardize it for anything short of risk to life and limb would be stupid on her part, and Kit is far from stupid. Trust your instincts in this Logan, You too Kit.**

They both shouted into the room "GET OUT OF MY HEAD."

Kit broke first, she giggled. He leaned down and captured the sound with his mouth.

"Do you think we will survive without telepaths to butt in?" She asked when she could speak again.

"Yea, Darlin, I do. Let's face it, we both have control issues. It's going to take work to get past them." He smiled down at her. God his moods were more changeable than the weather back home. "I guess I just ain't used ta people seeing me as a person, not an animal, especially after Stryker. I guess if you are willin ta put up with my crap, I am willin ta put up with yours."

She laughed, he had released some of the pressure on her wrists, and she slipped on hand down and caressed his face. "You know, you are the most temperamental, annoying, arrogant, obnoxious pain in the ass I have ever met, bar none, and I know it is going to be a royal pain in my ass to learn to deal with you, but I am willing to try."

He laughed out loud, his eyes softened, and he leaned down and captured her mouth with his, causing her toes to curl, and her entire body to long for more.

"So where exactly have you been hiding, darlin." He said as he nibbled down her neck.

"What do you mean?" What the hell was he going on about, as if she could think to answer him anyway?

"Where is that damned farm of yours anyway?"

"A podunk town in Oklahoma."

"Hrmmm, remind me Oklahoma is where?" His lips found her ear.

"Dumb ass." She said, she wasn't about to try to give him a geography lesson when she couldn't remember where she was at the moment.

"How long did you fight in the cages?" He released her hand and used his free hand to troke down her side.

"Why would you want to know that, Darlin?"

"I have my reasons, please Logan."

"I don't honestly know. The first time I entered the cages after I got the metal, there were pictures of me in cages going back for years. I think I did it for a long time, even before the metal changed me. Why?"

"Did you always have a thing about making sure your opponents were warned about groin shots?" She chuckled.

"Yea, how did ya know that, Darlin?"

"Well, I won't be taking you home to meet the family any time soon." She said with a teasing lilt to her voice.

"Ok, now I am really confused." He pulled back, his face tensing up

"Well, unless you want a rematch, and a shotgun to the back at a church altar?" She said kissing the end of his nose. He relaxed a bit, but looked more confused than ever."I think you and my Dad fought in the cages about twenty five years ago, and if he catches you with me, well, they still have shotgun weddings in Oklahoma." She grinned.

"OH, maybe a trip to Oklahoma can wait."

She laughed, as he leaned down and kissed her again. "Ok, I promise to be on my best behavior tomorrow, I will even smile for the cameras and won't hit anyone unless there is a legitimate threat ta life or limb. I will even let you pick out my shirt."

"Really?" She squealed.

"Yea, really; and what are we going ta do until tomorrow."

"I don't know. Maybe we could…."

"Logan, let the poor girl up."

"Scooter, if ya don't stop buttin in where ye're not wanted, it's gona cost ya at least a set of those fancy glasses of yers, and probably a whole lot more."

"Get up."

Logan stood up slowly. He turned slowly to face the man in the doorway. Kit stood up, and stepped back so she could see what was going on. Scott had his visor on, and had his hand on the controls.

"Are you alright, Kit?"

"Umm, no, you interrupted."

"He isn't forcing you?" She rolled her eyes at the visored team leader.

"Umm, no, you have a really twisted mind if you thing consensual fun between adults is forced. I am almost afraid to ask what you and Jean's sex life is like." Logan was trying to step between her and Scott, to protect her.

"That is none of your business."

"Gee, I think that applies here." Logan stopped, looking back over his shoulder at her, a shocked grin on his face. He stepped back behind her. She grinned at him as he did so. He was letting her handle Scott.

"Oh, and Scott, you might tell your fiancé to stay out of my man's room. She never knows who might be soaking in his tub. And it is extremely rude to try to seduce a man when you have promised to marry a different one."

She reached back and took Logan's hand. They walked out of the room, leaving Scott standing there speechless.

"Shit, someone pull the corncob out of his ass. Was he like that before he was dead?"

Logan had to stop, he was laughing so hard he had to lean on the wall.

"Yea, Darlin, he was like that before, too."

"Oh, damn, I thought it was just because he was dead too long." Logan swung her up into his arms.

"If we can just get past this whole communication shit, you and I are going ta get along just fine, Darlin." He set her down outside the elevator on the first floor. "Race ya to our room."

He took off running, while she processed that last bit. "OUR ROOM?" She raced after him.

Mia went quietly with Vic to dinner. She hadn't been feeling really well. At first she had thought it was just being tired, but something else seemed to be wrong. Her head was light, and she wasn't looking forward to this dinner, her stomach was queasy. She stumbled in the dark, and Vic reached back and took her hand. He stopped suddenly.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Vic, really." Her head was spinning but she didn't want him to know.

"Darlin, your hand is hot." He pulled her close and laid his other hand along the back of her neck. "You are burnin up."

"I'll be fine, Vic, probably just the flu or something. Some of us do get sick sometimes." He picked her up and carried her to Erik's tent.

"Is something wrong?" Erik asked as they burst in.

"Yea, she is burnin up."

"I'm fine." She said, it felt so good for Vic to carry her.

"Toad, go get the medic" Erik said to her green friend.

"Lay her down on my bed." He instructed Victor.

"Mia, my dear, you are burning up with fever. I have the medic coming, but I need to know if you have any idea what might be wrong."

"I told Vic, it is probably flu. My stomach is queasy, and I am a little dizzy."

"Anything else, anything at all."

"She has been coughing at night." Vic said. "Hard, been tryin ta keep her warm."

"Let me through." The medic came in. He was a little blue man, with green eyes, all green. He pulled out a stethoscope and started listening to her chest. He took her temperature, and handed her some pills.

"Make sure she takes them."

"What is it?"

"Pneumonia, there is an antibiotic she needs to finish, and some anti inflammatories for the fever."

"Wait, what antibiotic?" Mia asked.

"Ampicillin, it's all we have."

"I can't take it."

"What."

"I am allergic."

"How badly?" Vic asked.

"My throat closes up, and I can't breathe. My parents drilled me to always ask and always let people know I am allergic. It could kill me."

"Damn."

"Go, Victor. Get what she needs."

"Mia, stay here with Erik, I am taking the medic and we are going into the nearest town and hope there is a pharmacy."

"Victor. Wait. Do you have the phone?"

"Yea."

"Call her sister. They will be able to get what we need faster than you going into town."

"But that means I will have to tell them where we are."

"We will be gone when they get here; you will stay with the girl."

"What about tomorrow?"

"You get her the antibiotics she needs, and then join us, if you can. They won't make you stay with them, unless she needs more medical care, and if that is the case, we can do this without you. Make sure she gets her fever down so that when you leave, she is able to move. And, Victor, I will only say this once. Her life is worth more than this demonstration. Don't leave her. Her grandmother's wrath is NOT something I wish to face."

"Ya don't have ta tell me that. She's my mate. I ain't losin her."

"Very well; Toad, go pass the word to break camp. My tent stays here. Pack up Mia and Victor's camp and someone carry their gear. We will see you tomorrow, Victor. Now call the school."

Victor dialed the phone. The very last voice he expected answered the phone.

"I thought you were dead, old man."

"We need some antibiotics, something that is not penicillin based. Mia is sick, pneumonia, and she is allergic."

"NO, you bring them to us. She is has a fever and cough and I ain't moving her."

"No, it will be just me and her. The others will be gone."

"No, we ain't going back with ya. Mia will stay with me. You can ask her yer self."

"Get out of my head."

"Don't send the runt. He has bonding ta do. Tell me he opened the present I gave him." He laughed. "Bout damned time."

"I don't care what doctor ya send, just send what she needs ta get over this."

"I'll give him the message."

He hung up the phone.

"Erik."

He stepped out of the tent.

Erik was giving instructions. He was wearing his helmet.

"Erik."

"What is it, Victor?"

"I got a message for ya."

"Well."

"An old friend wanted to let you know he is still breathing."

Erik turned slowly around.

"Please tell me you are talking about Wolverine."

"No. Charles answered the phone."

"THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE."

"I spoke with him, he was in my head. It was him."

"In your head?"

"He only took the knowledge of where we are."

Erik looked at the ground for a moment. "I can't say I am displeased with this news. But it does make tomorrow's plans more difficult. I cannot allow Charles to interfere. You may have to go with them, distract them from what will be happening."

Victor turned and stalked back into the tent where his sick mate lay. She watched as he closed the flap. How much would he be willing to take for her? She lay there quietly. He handed her a cup of water, and the fever medication.

"Now we wait, Darlin." 

**I'D DO ANYTHING FOR LOVE (BUT I WON'T DO THAT)**

And I would do anything for love  
I'd run right into hell and back  
I would do anything for love  
I'll never lie to you and that's a fact

But I'll never forget the way you feel right now  
Oh no, no way  
And I would do anything for love  
But I won't do that  
I won't do that  
Anything for love  
I would do anything for love  
I would do anything for love  
But I won't do that  
I won't do that

Some days it don't come easy  
Some days it don't come hard  
Some days it don't come at all  
And these are the days that never end

Some nights you're breathing fire  
Some nights you're carved in ice  
Some nights you're like nothing I've ever seen before  
Or will again 

Maybe I'm crazy  
But it's crazy and it's true  
I know you can save me  
No one else can save me now but you

As long as the planets are turning  
As long as the stars are burning  
As long as your dreams are coming true  
You better believe it!

That I would do anything for love  
And I'll be there til the final act  
I would do anything for love  
And I'll take a vow and seal a pact 

But I'll never forgive myself if we don't go all the way  
Tonight!  
I would do anything for love, oh I would do anything for love  
I would do anything for love, but I won't do that, no I won't do that...

I would do anything for love  
Anything you've been dreaming of  
But I just won't do that

Somedays I pray for silence  
Somedays I pray for soul  
Somedays I just pray to the God of Sex and Drums and Rock 'N Roll

Some nights I lose the feeling  
Some nights I lose control  
Some nights I just lose it all when I watch you dance and the thunder rolls

Maybe I'm lonely  
And that's all I'm qualified to be  
There's just one and only, the one and only promise I can keep  
As long as the wheels are turning, as long as the fires are burning  
As long as your prayers are coming true, you better believe it

That I would do anything for love, and you know it's true and that's a fact  
I would do anything for love, and there'll never be no turning back  
But I'll never do it better than I do it with you, so long, so long  
And I would do anything for love, oh I would do anything for love  
I would do anything for love, but I won't do that, no no no I won't do that  
I would do anything for love, anything you've been dreaming of  
But I just won't do that

But I'll never stop dreaming of you every night of my life, no way  
And I would do anything for love, oh I would do anything for love  
I would do anything for love, but I won't do that, no I won't do that

Girl: Will you raise me up, will you help me down?  
Will you get me right out of this Godforsaken town?  
Will you make it all a little less cold?

Boy: I can do that! I can do that!

Girl: Will you hold me sacred? Will you hold me tight?  
Can you colorize my life, I'm so sick of black and white?  
Can you make it all a little less old?

Boy: I can do that! Oh oh, now I can do that!

Girl: Will you make me some magic, with your own two hands?  
Can you build an emerald city with these grains of sand?  
Can you give me something I can take home?

Boy: I can do that! Oh oh now, I can do that!

Girl: Will you cater to every fantasy I got?  
Will ya hose me down with holy water, if I get too hot?  
Will you take me places I've never known?

Boy: I can do that! Oh oh now, I can do that!

Girl: After a while you'll forget everything  
It was a brief interlude and a midsummer night's fling  
And you'll see that it's time to move on

Boy: I won't do that! No I won't do that!

Girl: I know the territory, I've been around  
It'll all turn to dust and we'll all fall down  
And sooner or later, you'll be screwing around

Boy: I won't do that! No I won't do that!  
Anything for love, oh I would do anything for love  
I would do anything for love, but I won't do that, no I won't do that


	8. Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

Chapter VIII

Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

Vic sat quietly next to the cot. Mia was sleeping. He watched her breathe. She had been so damned stubborn. She wouldn't let him see she was sick. She was going to have to quit thinking he was going to leave her. She moaned in her sleep and he gently laid a cool cloth over her head. The fever was down, but not enough. He hoped those X geeks got here soon. They could take care of her, and he couldn't. That was the thing that was pissing him off. He couldn't take care of his own frail, no his MATE. She was his mate and he couldn't care for her, He walked out of the tent so he wouldn't disturb her, and slammed his fist into a tree, it came crashing down into the forest. He heard her coughing inside and went to see if she needed him.

"Vic, go, if they are coming, then go. You don't need to be here, you don't need to get caught. I will find a way to catch up later"

"I ain't leavin ya, Darlin"

"Vic, please, it would kill me if they hurt you"

"They won't hurt me, Mia. I spoke with them, I am NOT leaving you. Now lie back and rest, they will be here soon." She was so pale. Why hadn't she told him she wasn't feeling well earlier? Why was he even asking himself that question? She didn't tell him because she didn't trust him not to leave her. He crushed the cup in his hand.

"Vic, please"

"Mia, I am stayin." He sat on the edge of the cot. "I AIN'T leavin ya, get that through your head"

She closed her eyes with a sigh; he stroked her hair, damp with sweat. Her forehead was getting warm again.

There was a roar outside the tent, and a blast of hot air. The geeks were here.

He opened the flap of the tent. The back ramp on their jet was coming down, and three pair of legs walked down the steps. It was the geek with the glasses, the red head, and a big blue furry guy he had seen on TV, some ambassador or something.

"One move, Creed and I will blast you." Redglasses said.

"Scott, that won't be necessary." The redhead said. She was carrying a medical bag. So was the blue guy.

"Where is she?"

"Inside." He held the tent flap back.

"Thank you." The redhead flashed him a smile. Jean, her name was Jean.

"Please, Jean, help her." He hated sounding weak, but his mate was all that mattered.

Jean stopped, and looked back over her shoulder. "Well, courtesy, that is certainly more than I expected from you." Her eyes seemed to blaze, and she raked them over his body, appraisingly.

He just stood there, his head bowed. "Close the flap and wait outside." She said as she sat on the side of the cot to begin her examination.

He stepped outside. The two men stood, braced for an attack. He just sat on the ground outside the tent and winced at every moan or cough from inside the tent.

The blue guy walked over and squatted next to him. "Hank McCoy." He held out a large paw.

"Victor Creed." Vic took his hand and shook it.

"I DON'T believe this." Scott stormed back into the jet.

"I take it red eye don't like me much." Vic said.

"From what I understand, the two of you had a somewhat violent confrontation, and our fearless leader's capacity for forgiveness is somewhat on the miniscule side"

"He is still pissed about Liberty Island"

"In a word, yes"

Victor chuckled. "Well, I ain't really happy with him either. Those blasts of his hurt and nearly drownin' didn't really endear him to me either"

Hank laughed. "Respect must be earned. I find it quite ironic, the amount of respect I hear in your voice"

"Never said I didn't respect you geeks; just don't think ya can do what ya think. Frails need ta be taught we are here and we ain't goin anywhere. They ain't going ta let us live in peace, we are going ta have ta fight for whatever we can take, ta have a life"

"A life; I never would have thought you would have any thoughts beyond the next altercation. I too live with a feral side, I control it, but everything I have seen or read about you, you embrace it. To hear you speaking of the future, of having a life, is quite enlightening"

Behind them the tent flap opened.

"Well, we are going to have to take her back to the mansion." Jean said as she came out. "I injected her with a strong antibiotic, but I need to get her on an IV drip. She is severely dehydrated, and the fever isn't helping. I also need to run a blood analysis." She stood, looking down at the two ferals sitting on the ground.

"I ain't leavin' her." Creed said.

"We have to take her back. If we leave her here, even with medication, she only has a fifty fifty chance of making it"

"Fine, take her back to the mansion. But I am going with her."

"I am not sure that is a wise idea. Logan, at least, will be against that." Jean said.

"It is my opinion that this young woman has exerted quite a civilizing influence on Mr. Creed here, and if he offered his guarantee of safe passage, even our erstwhile Mr. Logan cannot be overly objectionable"

"I will deal with the runt"

"That is what I am afraid of." Jean said.

"I will deal with Logan, without fighting." Victor looked up at the redhead. "My MATE comes first, he will understand that, now"

"And just how can you be certain"

Victor grinned up at her. He could smell her anger, and frustration. "Because, by NOW he has unwrapped my present, and after that, there is no going back"

"If you are speaking of the intimate relationship between your mate's sibling and Logan, yes, that particular bonding began this morning"

"About damned fucking time; she's been in his hands for four months. I was afraid he would miss his birthday"

"Are you saying, you sent Kit to Logan as a birthday present? That you planned for him to be attracted to her?" Jean was really getting angry now; her outline seemed to be bathed in a wreath of flame. Her eyes were jet black, and Vic could feel pressure building against his skin.

"Yep, I knew, not long after claiming Mia that Kit needed a mate. Her pheromones were just too damned strong. She was going to be pulling every feral out of the woodwork trying to mate her, and my mate was worried. She didn't want her sister hurt, so I picked the best man I knew to protect her, and decided she would make a nice birthday surprise." His fangs flashed in the grin he gave her. "You know, Jean, I can smell just how angry ya are. Just how sexually frustrated ya are. He turned ya down didn' he. Turned ya down flat, ya want him and he don't want you anymore" He laughed. The pressure built, and then suddenly stopped. Her eyes reverted to normal, and the aura around her faded.

"I am engaged to be married. I don't know what you are talking about, but if you want your MATE taken care of, she needs to be on that plane." Jean stormed up into the Blackbird.

"Please, Victor. Let us help you." Hank said as he stood up.

Victor stood and walked into the tent. He lifted the young girl off the cot and against his chest. "Vic, you don't have to do this." She whispered against him. "Hush, Darlin. You are what matters, nothin else." He carried her up the ramp and strapped them both into one of the seats. Hank sat next to him, placing a comradely hand on his shoulder.

Scott and Jean both looked back from the pilot and co-pilot's seats, glaring at him.

**You are welcome to stay, Victor. You and your mate, she will need several days of medical attention and several weeks to recover from this. I will warn Logan of your imminent arrival, to head off any hostility"**

"Thank you, old man." He cradled his life against his chest. He still couldn't believe that this one small woman meant so much to him. It amazed him every day that she gave a damn about him; that she loved him. He couldn't remember ANYONE in his life who had ever loved him, and this little thing did. It wasn't just sex, he knew that. He had figured that out the first time she got hurt and he went berserk. If a scraped knee could set him off to protect her, it wasn't just sex. He had had women before, he had had great sex before, but he had never had a lover; not like this.

"Uncharted waters are always the most challenging, my friend." Hank said, quietly.

"What are ya talkin about?"

"The look on your face, as you watch her. I sincerely hope I shall have the pleasure of such a bond someday. To see peace and joy on your face is startling in one so ferocious of reputation"

"I can't say I am only human, cuz I ain't; but this little piece of frail flesh has shown me exactly what that phrase means. I been alive over one hundred years, and never in my entire life has anyone but her said the words 'I love you' ta me." He stroked her sleeping head, against his shoulder. "And I can't ever remember saying them to anyone else." He placed a kiss on her hair.

Jean was watching him, looking back from the cockpit, but he just didn't care. She had a very puzzled look on her face. He could smell her anger building again, and growled at her. That bitch wasn't going to hurt his mate.

The flight was short, and they were descending into the grounds of the school. The ramp came down on the back of the jet and Hank helped him get the two of them unstrapped. He couldn't let go of her. He stood, and walked to the back of the plane, ducking to go down the ramp. Even before he hit the bottom he could smell who was waiting for him.

"Hello, Runt"

"Creed"

Logan was standing there, his frail at his side. The professor sat in his wheelchair next to them. "The med lab is this way." Creed was a little confused. He recognized the voice but not the face**. Do not worry, Victor, it is really me**.

"Lead the way." He said, carrying Mia. Kit walked next to him, concern on her face. He could smell the runt all over her. He grinned.

"So I take it the runt is takin care of ya good." He said to his mate's sister.

"Yea, really good."

He chuckled. "Bout damned time. I know he don't like my birthday surprises, but this time I thought I would send him something he could use. Just don't let him use ya up"

"Looks like I need to be telling you that." Logan growled from behind him.

They walked into the med lab and Victor lay Mia down on the bed. Jean walked in behind him and began setting up IV feeds and pulling needles from the cabinet in the room. "Outside, all of you, there is a window right over there, you can watch me if you don't trust me." She said, but she wasn't looking at Vic, she was looking at Logan. That was interesting, last time he had seen them, the Runt had been completely hot for the red haired doctor, now she was saying he didn't trust her.

They all filed out of the room. Vic, Logan and Kit stood outside the window. The Professor and Hank went down the hall to Hank's office. Victor winced as Jean injected a needle in his mate's arm. She started the IV, and then began to draw blood from the other arm. He picked up the faint smell of it as it was drawn out of her body. He clenched his fists at his side; he was maintaining control, barely. He wanted to go in there and rip her throat out for hurting his mate.

"Easy." Logan said softly. "She isn't hurting her, she is helping."

"I know, that's the only reason I am still standing here"

Kit laid a hand on his arm, Logan let out a low growl. "Can it, jerk." She said across Victor to her mate.

Victor chuckled. The smell of blood had stopped coming out of the room, all he could smell was his ill mate. The redhead finished the IV set up, putting a bag of antibiotics on the pole. She walked over and opened the door. "You can all come in now. I gave her something to help her sleep. Nothing too strong, in her condition, but she should be very drowsy very soon. She kept asking for you, Victor."

He walked over to the bed. Kit walked to the other side, and Logan stood behind her.

"Vic, please, don't let anyone hurt you over me." Mia said quietly.

"Darlin, just rest; no one has offered to hurt me. Hell, even the runt is being, dare I say it, NICE." He could hear Logan growling across the bed.

Kit laughed. "I wouldn't say nice. I don't think I can remember when he has been NICE"

"Darlin, you were tellin me just a little while ago just how NICE I was being." Logan laughed.

"Shut up, Jerk." Kit said. "For that you are wearing a tie tomorrow"

Vic looked across the bed at Logan and Kit. "Damn. Had the present unwrapped less than a day and already on a short leash." He doubled over laughing. Even Mia chuckled.

Jean stepped into the room. "My patient needs rest" She was glaring at Kit and Logan.

"Just bring me a cot. I ain't leavin her." Vic said.

"That will not work. She needs her rest and…." Jean stopped. "Very well, Professor"

"I will have Hank bring in a cot"

"Kit and I have plans for tomorrow, but will check in early." Logan said. "You might consider a shower so ya don't stink up the place"

"Look who's talkin, runt, ya smell like yer frail"

Logan grinned. "And plan on smellin more like her before mornin"

Kit turned around and slapped him. "Keep that up, and I am sleeping with Marie and Jubilee tonight"

Mia laughed from the bed, quietly. "No offense to anyone but I am going to get some sleep"

"You do that, sis; we can talk about your horrible taste in men later." Kit said. "I mean your Vic is bad enough, but what the hell were you thinking sending me to this jerk." She bent down and kissed Mia on the forehead. "Glad you are safe sis"

"You too." Mia said as Kit and Logan headed for the door. Vic could hear Logan trying to sweet talk Kit all the way to the elevator. 

He just held her hand while she drifted off to sleep. Hank came in a few minutes later with a cot he set up against one wall. He pulled a padded chair over next to the bed. "You aren't going to want to stand all night." He said as he placed it next to Vic.

"Thanks, Blue"

"I can only envy what you have." He smiled at Mia. "I almost had it with their mother, but it wasn't meant to be, and with only two girls in this generation, I am holding the short straw"

"Only two girls from this branch, Hank" Vic said. "There could be more out there. Don't give up hope"

"Thank you, Victor. You are the last person I would have expected to understand"

Vic sat in the chair, and laid his head against Mia's hand on the bed. He could hear her breathe and that was enough for him at the moment. He closed his eyes.

Logan woke up slowly. He couldn't remember when he had actually slept without nightmares, or waking up frustrated. He started to stretch out but a weight on his chest wouldn't let him. He looked down and saw a pool of light brown hair scattered across his chest. Oh yea, that was why he was so damned relaxed. A night with a beautiful woman could do that. She moaned in her sleep and her hand started stroking the hair on his chest. He reached over and captured her fingers. He remembered they had something to do today and if he let her keep that up, they wouldn't get out of bed.

"Rise and shine, gorgeous." He said in her ear.

"I thought that was my line." She said as she slipped her hand out of his and started trailing it down his chest. He reached down and captured it again.

"If you want ta check on your sister, and get ta this damned rally today, we are going ta have ta get out of this bed"

"SHIT. I almost forgot Mia." Kit jumped out of bed and started looking for her clothes.

"Darlin, if you remember you brought your outfit for today down here last night. It is on the chest over by the bathroom." He had found a replacement for the dresser he had trashed yesterday, and he and Peter had moved it into the room while Jean, Scott and Hank went to go take care of Mia. He was lying back on the pillows, hands behind his head watching her scramble around the room. There was nothing like watching a flustered woman in the mornings, especially when she was naked.

"Do you MIND?" She said as she finally made it into the bathroom.

"Nope, don't mind a'tall Darlin; was enjoying the show."

"You have to get ready too, jerk"

"When are ya going ta stop that?"

"When you stop acting like one." She popped her head out the door.

He chuckled as he climbed out of bed. He pulled a clean pair of black jeans and a clean white T-shirt out of a drawer. She had scrounged up a plain white dress shirt from somewhere for him to wear. Now what the hell was he going to do about a tie?

They had fought for an hour last night about the damned tie. Finally, they had agreed the first one to flinch in a wrestling match would win the tie issue. Damn the woman the last thing he had expected was her to pull her shirt off while wrestling. He had gone down without a protest, so now he had to wear the damned tie.

"I am going ta see if Hank has a tie I can borrow"

"Good idea. I couldn't find one in any of your stuff"

"That's because I don't own one, Darlin"

She laughed as he headed out the bedroom door. He walked down to Hank's room, the blue man was up and showered and was tying his own tie when Logan walked up to the open door. "You don't happen ta have one of those I could borrow, do ya?"

The tie Hank was tying was a simple black that would go with the Brooks Brother's suit he was wearing, but Logan had to swallow a laugh. There was a huge Tasmanian Devil at the bottom end, where it would be hidden by the suit coat.

"Actually, I have Bugs, Sylvester and Tweety, and Daffy"

"Damn, I wanted Taz. I'll take Bugs." Hank handed him a tie off of his dresser.

"Do you have that other thing I asked you about yesterday?"

"Yes and a most prudent move." He handed him a pad of black fabric.

"Thanks, Hank. Did you get one to Marie too?"

"Yes and sent one to Dr. Morgan."

"I hope we don't need em, but better ta be prepared. And with these FoH assholes bein' there I want Kit covered."

He walked back down the hallway. He could hear her getting out of the shower and he sprinted to enjoy the show. "Darlin, I got a little something I want ya ta add ta your outfit today."

She was fastening a pair of black jeans as he walked into the room. Damn, he missed her bending over to pull them up. His timing sucked.

"What is THAT?" She was pointing at the tie in his hand.

"My tie"

"You are NOT wearing a Bugs Bunny tie"

"Darlin, I went ta Hank ta borrow a tie, it was this or Sylvester and Tweety"

He was shocked, she actually growled at him. "Fine; what, no Taz"

"Nahh, he will be under Hank's jacket"

She just glared at him, and then threw up her hands in disgust.

He laid the black pad on the bed. "Put that on before you put your shirt on"

"I am not wearing that, my shirt is white. It will show through"

"Then get another shirt, cuz you are wearin it or we ain't goin." He was standing at the dresser, trying to tie the damned tie.

"I am NOT walking down to my room in just my jeans, Logan"

"Then open the damned drawer"

"What"

She opened the drawer. All of her clothes and things had been moved last night while they were waiting for Mia and Vic to get there. He just hadn't told her yet.

"What the hell"

"I told ya yesterday, this is our room. It is kinda dumb for your clothes to be four doors down"

She turned and faced him; he couldn't tell if she was angry or going to cry. God he hoped she was pissed.

"You son of a bitch." She said as she flew across the room at him. He dropped into a defensive stance. He HADN'T expected her to attack him. He reached out to try to grab her hands, his claws sheathed. He didn't want to hurt her. He grabbed her wrists as her body slammed into him. Her mouth landed on his. THAT was more like what he was hoping for. He let go of her wrists slowly as she kissed him. She slipped her hands up his arms and around his neck in a gentle caress.

He pulled back from her mouth reluctantly. "Damn, Darlin, does that mean you are happy"

"Yes, you son of a bitch." She leaned her forehead against his. "You could have at least told me."

"I just did"

"Ok, maybe discussed, would have been a better word"

"I ain't much inta discussion, Darlin." He said as he slipped his hands up the bare flesh of her sides.

"Well, THAT is something that is going to change, Logan, I NEED to know I have some say in my life." She said softly against his lips. God he loved the sound of his name from her mouth.

"I promise ta try, Darlin, but if any situation we are in goes south, I need ta know you are going ta listen, without question. If I tell ya ta duck, ya duck, and we can DISCUSS it later. I would rather ya kept breathin and were pissed than be dead and unable to hit me over the head" Discussion could get her killed. He understood her needing to feel like she had some say, but he had to know she would take an order if she needed to. If she was going to be around him for any length of time, she needed to start thinking survival.

"Ok, fair enough." She pulled back and looked at the pad of black fabric on the bed. "You really want me to wear that don't you?"

"Yea, Kit, I do." He was scared, a feeling he hated more than any other. Scared something would happen with those FoH goons today and he would lose her right after he found her.

"Well you are going to have to help me into it." She smiled at him. He could definitely do that. ANY chance to touch that body was fine with him.

"Only if ya help me with this damned tie." He grinned at her. She laughed and reached up and began to tie it for him. She pressed the knot flat with her fingers and straightened it under the edge of the collar of the shirt. He looked over in the mirror, watching her work. One of the things he really liked about this girl is that they were so close in height. He didn't have to look up at her, and looking at them in the mirror they seemed to fit. Finally she finished fussing over the tie and started to step back from him. He tightened his arms around her waist.

"Not yet, Darlin, once ya get that thing on, I ain't going ta be able to touch your skin till later. I am kinda enjoyin' this right now." He was stroking the bare flesh of her back. She looked into his eyes with a sparkle in hers and then ground her hips into his.

"You keep that up, and all this work will be for nothing." She said.

"I really like that idea, Darlin." He chuckled reaching for the clasp of her bra. Hank chose that moment to stick his head in.

"You two should move more expeditiously. Marie is having difficulties with the projectile protection assembly and my patient is awake this morning and requesting conversation with her sibling"

"Damn, blue butt, in English already." Logan laughed.

"He said hurry up, Marie needs help with her bullet proof vest, and Mia is awake and wants to talk to me." Kit laughed.

"I KNOW that, Darlin. I was just givin' the blue boy over there a hard time."

"Not nearly as hard a time as I am giving you." She said as she walked over to the bed. She looked back over her shoulder and winked, and wiggled her hips at him.

Well, she was right there. He was definitely having a hard time, especially when she bent over in those jeans to pick up the vest. He growled at her and reached out to grab her around the waist. She dodged him, and he chased her around the room for a few minutes.

Hank chuckled as he walked away. Logan finally caught her and took the vest from her. It was one of the new ones, with Kevlar reinforced elastic instead of straps for the sides and top. It provided better protection and wasn't as thick as the older vests. Unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn't be able to tell she was wearing it. This was a female version, tailored to allow a woman's curves to show, to help conceal that she was wearing it. The front and back pads were not very thick, but were triple reinforced with Kevlar. It was rated to stop up to a 9mm bullet. He hoped they wouldn't have to deal with anything larger than that.

He helped her pull the shirt on, and then she walked over to the chest with her things in it and searched for a shirt. She found a simple black tee and a light green summer jacket. "You do know I am going to be hot as hell in this thing today." She said. He hadn't thought about that. Hot sweaty woman when they got back was going to be a good thing. He gave her a hungry grin.

"Nope, but now that you mention it, I guess I am going ta have ta help ya clean up later"

"Do you ever have anything on your mind but sex?"

"Yea, I like good beer, hockey, and a good ass kickin'"

"There is no such thing as good beer, hockey is ok, but I prefer football especially OU, and there is nothing in the world wrong with a good ass kicking, as long as you don't get hurt doing it"

"NO SUCH THING AS A GOOD BEER." He shouted at her as she headed out the door. What the hell was wrong with the woman? She was walking into Marie's room as he stepped out of the door. He could hear Jubilee and Marie arguing as she opened the door. The last thing he needed was three chattering females, so he headed down to the med lab to check on Mia.

He stood outside the window in shock. Creed was sitting in a chair, his head on the side of the bed, sleeping, and Mia was awake, stroking his hair. Creed was purring in his sleep. Damn it, the monster was purring. The look on Mia's face was what had stopped him, though. It was so soft, so gentle, and she had tear tracks from the corner of her eyes. Her eyes were looking at Creed and only at Creed. He felt a strange tug in his chest, he and Kit were having a good time, but she didn't look at him like that, and for some strange reason, he wanted her to.

Kit walked up next to him. "Marie is dressed. She wouldn't let Jubilee help her with the vest, Jubes wouldn't put on gloves and she was afraid she might touch her skin. I put on a pair of gloves and helped. Do you think these things are really necessary?"

"I'd rather be safe than sorry, Darlin." He watched as Creed woke up, and turned his head to Mia. She smiled at him and Logan heard him softly speak her name. He watched as Creed stood up and gently kissed her forehead. He sat, gently on the side of the bed and ran the back of his hand over her cheek. They could see his face from the window, and Logan tried to recall when he had seen such a dopey look on a man's face. Oh yea, every time BoyScout looked at Jean.

"God." Kit breathed next to him. He looked down at her. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"What, Darlin." Logan asked, not sure he would like the answer.

"He really loves her. And she loves him." Another tear trailed after the first. "Not some mating rut or possessive thing, but they really love each other." Logan was right, he didn't like the answer. Is that what she thought, that he was some animal, just following his mating instincts. Well, she wasn't the first to think of him that way.

"Is that a good thing, Darlin?"

She looked up at him, "I know you love Jean, everyone in the place knows where your heart is, and I can live with that. At least ONE of us ended up with what our parents have. My Dad looks at my Mom like that every day." He reached out and wiped the tears from her cheek.

"Darlin, the Jean I knew was dead. I still got reservations about what we are callin Jean at the moment." Damn, she was full of surprises. He knew she had heard him tell Jean to get out yesterday, but she still thought he was in love with her.

"I know that, Logan. I am not asking you to love me, at least not like you loved her. I will never ask that. You can't help what we have ended up in. It is that damned primordial stuff the Professor was talking about. I know that. I know your heart is still in that grave out there, where you buried it with Jean." He pulled her against him. She was sobbing now. What the hell was wrong with her? He was sharing his room, sharing his bed with her. She was the first person he went to when he came back, didn't that tell her how important she was to him.

"Darlin, we need ta talk, but we don't have time today." He whispered against her hair.

"There is nothing to talk about, Logan. I know the score, and am willing to take what I can get. I am going to go in and check on Mia. You go see if Hank and Marie are ready." She stepped back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She opened the door to the med lab and walked in. He really didn't feel like facing Creed, and she had given him a lot to think about.

"Damn it." He said as he walked off. He was going to have to straighten her out sooner or later. He found Hank and Marie talking by the front door. The black sedan was sitting in the driveway, the one with the bullet proof glass. He wasn't taking any chances, not with Kit and Marie in the car. He smiled at Marie. She was growing into a fine woman, and Icecube better realize how good he had it.

"You guys ready"

"Waitin' on you two Shug." Marie said.

"Kit is talkin with Mia. She will be along in a bit." He looked Marie over; the vest didn't show under the light summer dress she was wearing, good. He didn't want to give those FoH goons any warning they were ready for an attack. He hoped it would be peaceful, but he had learned the hard way, that hope and reality were usually separated by a vast chasm.

Kit came out of the elevator behind them, followed closely by Creed. What the fuck did he want? He passed Kit and grabbed Logan by the throat, lifting him off the ground and slamming him into the wall behind him.

"YOU ARE LETTING HER GO TO THIS RALLY!" He roared in Logan's face.

SNIKT. The claws were out.

"Stop it, both of you." Kit said. Hank had one hand on the arm holding Logan in the air. "Yes, and he is going with me, Victor, if you had let me explain downstairs. Marie and I are both wearing vests. We are NOT expecting any trouble"

"Then ye're stupid, and the runt here is stupid ta let ya go. Those Friends of Humanity goons are NOTHING ta laugh at."

He slowly lowered Logan to the ground. Logan still had his claws out; there was no way he was going to relax around this monster.

"Logan, put the claws away." Kit said, laying a hand on his arm, he shrugged her off, ignoring her. She glared at him, and then turned back to Creed.

"Victor, I have been planning this rally for weeks, I am GOING to be there. Nothing you, or Logan, or Hank or anyone else who has tried to talk me out of it can say will change my mind. At least Logan decided to be sensible, and actually consider what needed to be done to make it as safe as possible.

"Vests, and two ferals ta protect ya ain't enough. Those FoH goons are crazy. Even I am smart enough ta give 'em a wide berth."

"How did you know FoH would be at the rally, Creed?" Logan asked.

"Kit was tellin Mia about it. As soon as she said FoH I knew there was going ta be trouble"

Creed was lying. Logan could smell it. "We will deal with this when we get back. Kit get in the car, you too, Marie. Let's get this crap over with. You get back downstairs and deal with yer mate. I'll deal with ya later"

**Logan, please, give Victor a chance. He IS trying to help, without betraying those he considers friends. I already am aware of the potential dangers, and will have Jean, Scott, Ro and the younger X men on alert in case of trouble.**

He hated it when Xavier did that.** Fine; but it is on your head if anything happens and anyone gets hurt.** He thought back at the telepath.

He heard a chuckle in his head and then Xavier was gone.

He opened the back door of the car and got in next to Kit. Hank was driving.

"You know, Mr. Ambassador, it would probably be a good idea if I drove." Logan said.

"Perhaps, however I am striving to have us all arrive in one piece. With your haphazard skills behind the wheel, we would risk greater chances of bodily injury even before our arrival"

"Very funny, fuzz ball." He leaned back in the seat. He hated to ride anywhere. He hated not being in control. He hated it on the jet, on the way to a mission, it made him want to jump out and get on his bike. But they were out of the gates and on the main road. He closed his eyes. The scents of the people in the car surrounded him. Marie and Bobby must have figured out something, because his scent was all over her this morning. Hank was nervous about something, probably the rally; he was going to have to give a speech. Thank God it wasn't him. Public speaking wasn't his forte. Kit was angry, REALLY angry, and something else; sad, no that wasn't it but something.

He reached across the back seat to take her hand. She pulled it away. She was staring out the window, not even looking at him.

"Darlin, we don't have time for this." Logan said quietly.

"Fine, we don't have time for this. You promised to behave yourself if Victor came. First chance you got, you drew claws on him"

"Damn it, he attacked me." This was going to be one LONG day. "Look, Darlin, I ain't going ta get over how I feel about him overnight, ok. I promised ta try; and ya have ta admit I was provoked"

"I don't care. I just want to get this over with, and get back. Mia is responding to the antibiotics but I am still worried." That was it she was worried about her sister. That made sense to him.

"The kid will be fine. Besides she has her big old ugly 'loving' mate with her." He looked out his window; he couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. He didn't know what the hell was bothering her today. It wasn't like last night wasn't great or anything. She should be relaxed, and just a bit pleased, but instead she was tense, angry and worried.

"Yes, I know." She whispered. Even his hearing barely caught it. Marie turned around in her seat and glared at him. What had he done now? Now Marie was pissed. Damn this was going to be a LONG day. At least the damned rally was outside, so when he got there he could grab a smoke. Kit was quiet the whole rest of the way to the campus, and Marie kept shooting daggers at him with her eyes. Logan gritted his teeth when they pulled in. What the fuck. NO SMOKING. He began to growl.

"You'll live. You didn't have to come you know." Kit said.

"Ya coulda warned a man he couldn't grab a smoke, Mirror." He said, switching into team mode.

"Will you quit, Logan; Kit is nervous enough." Marie said from the front seat as Hank pulled into a reserved parking space. There were police and barricades all over the place. The FoH group was about three hundred yards to the west of them, with bullhorns shouting "Down with Mutants." "Keep our race pure" and "Humans FIRST" as loudly as they could. They had about two hundred protestors, behind police barricades, with riot police separating them from the rally. At least SOMEONE had thought ahead to possible trouble. The car was surrounded by police officers, opening the doors, and offering hands to the ladies. Logan got out on his side and walked around to where Kit was being handed out by a young cop.

"Mirror, Let's get you to where you need to be." He said, barely controlling a growl at the kid. He didn't know she belonged to Logan, but if he didn't let go of her hand, he was going to find out.

Suddenly he smelled something very familiar. What was the blue bitch doing here?

He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and almost shoved Kit back into the car, but he had promised to stay, to try to understand all this crap. It was important to her for some God forsaken reason, so he was trying to be patient. He started looking around, trying to spot Mystique. In this crowd it would take a while to track her down, even by smell, and he wasn't leaving Kit's side to do it.

Mirror walked up to an older woman, and began talking. He could tell she was wearing a vest. This must be Dr. Morgan, her political science professor. Rogue was standing with them, and they each had two police officers standing nearby.

"Thank you again, Kit, for talking Dr. McCoy into speaking for us today. Having the US Ambassador to the UN, who is also a mutant, speak today has drawn quite a crowd. We have over five thousand registrants"

"I am so glad, Dr. Morgan." Kit was saying. Logan was watching the crowd, only paying half attention to what they were talking about. He thought he had just seen that John kid, Pyro. That was two. He started scanning the crowd even closer. He spotted four more probable Brotherhood members. This was NOT going to be a good day.

They were standing beside the raised platform that was being used for a stage. There was a band drawing to a close. Dr. Morgan walked up onto the stage and took the microphone from the lead singer.

"Thank you, everyone for coming out today. As you know, basic rights for citizens of this country are under attack. The right to privacy, the right to freedom of speech, the right to freedom of religion, the right to, in the words of Thomas Jefferson 'Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.' These rights should belong to all citizens of this country, to all citizens of this planet, but because some people are born different, born with a different genetic code, people are trying to take those rights away from them. They didn't ask to be different. They were born that way. The Inalienable Rights that our forefathers laid down in the founding documents of this country apply to all citizens, human and mutant alike"

There was a roar from the crowd and loud shouts from across the riot line.

"The disabled, the infirm, those born with congenital defects are given the basic human rights that we enjoy, but now there are movements to take those rights away from those who's only crime is to be born different, to have powers or abilities that the rest of us do not, to look different. To take those rights away from them is one step away from taking them away from the rest of humanity."

There was another roar and applause from the crowd, and more shouts from across the road, these becoming more hateful by the moment.

"And now, without further ado, I would like to introduce the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Hank McCoy"

Hank walked up the steps of the stage, his dark grey double breasted Brooks Brother's jacket buttoned up. He had his hand over Taz. Logan chuckled. Guess it was his lucky tie.

"Thank you, Dr. Morgan. It is a great honor to speak with you today. There are resolutions being proposed in our own Congress to limit the rights of mutant kind. I urge all of you to contact your senators and representatives to protest these resolutions. This is not just to protect the rights of mutant kind, but of all humanity. If they will limit the rights of one group, what is to stop them from limiting the rights of another? The United Nations Resolution 10892 proposes limiting access to mutants to financial institutions, employment opportunities, and even medical facilities and treatment. These types of resolutions must be stopped, and they must be stopped not by mutants, because we are a minority, but by the majority, by the humans who are our parents, neighbors, siblings and friends."

Hank's voice boomed through the microphone. Kit was watching him; Logan couldn't stop himself from watching her. He could tell she was in total agreement with what Hank was saying. He wished he could agree with fur ball about this stuff, but frankly he had seen too much in what he could remember of his life. Letter writing campaigns and peaceful protests were great PR but frankly didn't get much done, in his opinion. Now if they went after the leaders of these movements and cut the heads off, that might get something done.

He heard a loud noise from the direction of the Friends of Humanity group. Suddenly Hank dropped like a rock. SHIT. He grabbed Kit to pull her to the ground. That was when he realized she was already falling. He smelled the copper scent of blood, her blood. His face broke out into a feral snarl, his claws popped out. His mate was hurt and he wasn't able to stop it. He looked down at the woman in his arms. The bullet had passed through her arm. It wasn't fatal, just painful. He set her gently on the ground, sniffed at her arm, and then turned around. He started looking for something to punish for his mate's pain.

**OUT OF THE FRYING PAN (AND INTO THE FIRE)**

It's only two o'clock and the temperature's beginning to soar  
And all around the city you see the walking wounded and the living dead  
It's never been this hot and I've never been so bored  
And breathing is just no fun anymore  
Then I saw you like a summer dream  
And you're the answer to every prayer that I ever said  
I saw you like a summer dream  
And you're the answer to every prayer that I ever said

You can feel the pulse of the pavement racing like a runaway horse  
The subways are sizzling and the skin of the streets is gleaming with sweat  
I've seen you sitting on the steps outside  
And you were looking so restless and reckless and lost  
I think it's time for you to come inside  
I'll be waiting here with something that you'll never forget  
I think it's time for you to come inside  
I'll be waiting here with something that you'll never forget

Come on, come on and there'll be no turning back  
You were only killing time and it'll kill you right back  
Come on, come on, it's time to burn up the fuse  
You got nothing to do and even less to lose  
You got nothing to do and even less to lose 

So wander down to the ancient hallway, taking the stairs only one at a time  
Follow the sound of my heartbeat now  
I'm in the room at the top, you're at the end of the line  
So open the door and lay down on the bed, the sun is just a ball of desire  
And I wanna take you out of the frying pan (and into the fire)  
Out of the frying pan (and into the fire)  
Out of the frying pan and into the fire  
And I wanna take you out of the frying pan (and into the fire)  
Out of the frying pan (and into the fire)  
Out of the frying pan and into the fire  
And into the fire, fire, fire, and into the fire, fire, fire  
And into the fire, fire, fire, and into the fire

It's only two o'clock and the temperature's beginning to soar  
And all around the city you see the walking wounded and the living dead  
It's never been this hot and I've never been so bored  
And breathing is just no fun anymore  
Then I saw you like a summer dream  
And you're the answer to every prayer that I ever said  
I saw you like a summer dream  
And you're the answer to every prayer that I ever said  
chorus  
And into the, and into the, and into the  
And into the fire, fire, fire, and into the fire, fire, fire  
And into the fire, fire, fire, and into the fire


	9. Back into Hell

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

Chapter 9

Back into Hell

Hank was starting to move on the stage. Suddenly there was a blast of flame from near the Friends protest. DAMN, Pyro was attacking, but whom? Kit got to her feet behind him.

"Stay down," He growled. He felt the electrical surge. She was borrowing from him again. "MIRROR, I said get DOWN."

"Fuck you, Jerk." She said standing next to him. She had pulled off the cotton jacket and ripped it into a bandage for her arm. Marie walked up to his other side, gloves off. Hank staggered off the stage, and then pulled himself upright.

"I do believe someone took a 'potshot' at me." He was looking at the wound in his leg, as it slowly closed. "Well, it isn't to Logan's standards, but my healing factor is working."

Suddenly, cars were lifted off the ground. "GREAT."

Logan started looking for Magneto. He found a large number of the Brotherhood, all facing off against the Friends of Humanity. A car came screaming into the campus, and Jean, Scott and the rest of the X men on alert climbed out. They actually went to stand with the Brotherhood, what the hell was going on?

**Logan, Erik is there to help. His associates spotted the sniper but it was too late to stop the shot. Bring Hank and Kit to the car, Jean has a medical kit. At least your mate needs some medical attention. If you choose to enter the fray, please remember, in this instance, the Brotherhood are our friends.**

"Yea, right." He growled.

"Mirror, get to the car, Jean has her med bag."

"No FUCKING way. Those FUCKERS screwed this up and I am going to kick some major ass." Logan looked over at her flushed face and grinned. A mate who liked to kick ass; what more could a man want?

"Then you stay CLOSE, got me. You ain't got my healing factor, and I ain't losin ya."

"Then get a move on Jerk," she said as she and Marie started moving. "You are falling behind."

The four of them moved quickly into the fray. Pyro was blasting fireballs into the FoH crowd; Mystique was working her way into them, leaving a wake of wounded and dead. In the back, a man was clutching the rifle that was twisted into a noose around his neck, choking him to death. Logan, claws out began wading in. He could see the headquarters tent for the protest, and it was heavily guarded. He could smell explosives. The other members of the Brotherhood were advancing steadily against the FoH, and then all hell broke loose.

Logan grabbed Marie and Kit and dove to the ground, dragging them with him, just as the bomb went off. Standing in front of him, Pyro grabbed the flames and directed them back on the FoH protesters.

"Thanks, Kid." Logan said grudgingly. His back was burned from the blast, and he could feel shrapnel working its way out. Damn he hated pain.

"Fuck you, Wolverine." Pyro said, as he moved through the wreckage. The mutants of the Brotherhood had taken the worst of the damage from the blast, next to the FoH themselves. Those people were insane. They killed their own people. Logan saw Jean off to one side, she had been knocked flat by the blast, Scott was helping her to her feet and they began walking among the wounded, finding those who were still alive.

Logan helped Mirror and Rogue up, and looked over at Hank. The Brooks Brother's suit was in shreds, but he would be damned, Taz was still flying, untouched. He chuckled. Yep must be his lucky tie.

Kit went back toward the stage, looking for anyone from the rally that might need help. She found Dr. Morgan, sitting, with her head in her hand, two of her students lying next to her. Her blouse and jacket had been torn by the blast, but unlike the lifeless bodies lying next to her, she was alive, thanks to Logan's quick thinking. The vest had managed to stop the shrapnel. She had a cut over one eye and a gash on her leg, but when Kit knelt to help her, she refused, pulling herself to her feet and beginning to limp, looking to render aid. Kit and Logan followed her. Aftermath wasn't something he was fond of.

By the end of the morning, there were fifty five dead, five hundred wounded and the press was all over the site. They were trying to blame the Brotherhood for the attack, but Dr. Morgan was having none of it. She made sure everyone knew that the Friends of Humanity had tried to assassinate Dr. McCoy. The remains of the bomb were found in the headquarters tent of the FoH protest. Once the police announced that the Friends of Humanity's new leader had come forward, claiming responsibility, and vowing to continue attacking mutants wherever they could, the press had to back down about the Brotherhood's involvement.

Magneto had disappeared shortly after the blast; Logan assumed it was to avoid capture. He finally found Kit in one of the first aid tents that had been set up; she had a fresh bandage on her arm, and was trying to help with those who were wounded. He still had on the damned shirt and tie, and miraculously, Bugs was still in one piece. The back of the shirt wasn't but, hey at least his healing factor was still working. She looked up at him, and he could tell she was noticing the blood on him. She just looked him in the eye, and went back to trying to tie a bandage on a young girl's arm.

"Darlin, come on. Let's go home."

"I can't believe this happened. Why would they do something like this?" He could tell she was still dazed.

"They are fanatics, Darlin. That makes em dangerous." He pulled her into his arms, resting her head against his shoulder. He wasn't going to say 'I told you so.' He didn't think she needed to hear that. Her hands hung limply at her side, he knew something was wrong, but there wasn't time to deal with it now.

"Chuck sent the van; Darlin, Hank and Marie are already strapped in. Let's go home."

"Ok," she said wearily, pulling away from him, but allowing him to guide her to the van.

They walked slowly, toward the van, his arm around her waist. He was really glad he made her wear that vest. She climbed into the van when they got there, sitting in the back row of seats, looking out the side window. She was quiet, too quiet.

The entire ride back to the mansion she was quiet. He rested an arm against the back of the seat behind her head and tried to pull her against him. She sat stiffly, and he gave up. She would get over it.

The van pulled up to the front door of the mansion. There were several of the school vans, offloading both Brotherhood and X-men. What the hell was the Brotherhood doing here? He looked to the main entrance and saw Charles and Erik standing there, talking; just great.

"Darlin, are ya comin'?" He was starting to get out of the seat.

"In a minute." Jean walked past the van and Kit's eyes followed her. Jean looked tired, worn out to be exact. He knew she wasn't up to even her normal level of powers, and yet he could have sworn he had seen her wreathed in fire during the short battle.

"Is that what's botherin ya?" He sat back in the seat.

"No. I'll be in, just give me a minute."  
Damn she was lying to him. He reached over and gently turned her to face him.

"Darlin, I can smell a lie. Talk ta me."

"She isn't what is bothering me. I just know how you felt about her, and I don't know where I stand. I mean, oh hell, I can't explain it. I was watching Vic and Mia yesterday, how worried he was about her, and I get shot today, and all you can do is dump me on the ground and take off, claws out ready to fight. I guess I am beginning to realize that … I don't know, I guess I just want more than you can give, and I am going to have to learn to live with what you can."

"Darlin." He sat there for a minute. How could he explain how he felt?

"Listen ta me. Not a word from you, just listen." He took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair; this wasn't going to be easy.

"Ok." He took another deep breath and looked into her dark brown eyes. "You are the woman sharing my bed, my room, Darlin. I can't remember the last time I shared livin space with a woman. One night stands after cage fights don't leave much time for relationships, ya know. I want ya there, need ya there. You are the one I came back for, not Jean. Hell, if you hadn't been here, I might have never come back. It wasn't Jean in my dreams at night, wakin me up frustrated and needin a cold shower at two in the morning." She opened her mouth, but he placed a finger across her soft lips. "I told ya, not a word." She nodded.

"Do ya remember that pillow ya threw at me? I took it with me; it was the first thing I unpacked in the motel room, and the last thing I packed in the mornings. It smelled like ya, and it was my most treasured possession. I hit the cages, and fought. I drank, not that THAT does me much good; but, Darlin…Kit, I couldn't touch a woman, and don't think I didn't try. I thought I could get ya out of my blood; I honestly tried, but they just left me cold." What the hell, she was crying, tears leaking out of her eyes as she looked at him.

He wiped a tear from her cheek. "When I decided ta come back, I knew I was comin home, home ta YOU. I came in that back door, climbed those back stairs, and went straight ta your room. I was just going ta open the door and check on ya, but you were lyin there, covers half off, and I could see goosebumps on your legs and arms. I just was going ta pull the covers over ya but ya woke up. I had missed ya, and when you said you had missed me, I think my heart was in my throat. Then ya kissed me, Darlin, and I couldn't control how I felt. When I smelled your fear, I thought I would die. You were afraid of me." He stopped his throat closing. He didn't know if he should tell her what he had done next. He knew she had thought he had been angry, she didn't know the half of it.

He swallowed hard. He had to go through with this. "I picked up my bag and went to my room. That damned pillow was stickin out of the top of my bag. I pulled it out and held it to my chest. I could smell ya. I could hear ya cryin down the hall, but I could smell ya in my arms still." He paused, looking past her out the window. How could he tell her? "I held that pillow against me, and wanted to leave. I couldn't stand you bein afraid of me. I held that pillow, Kit, and I …. I went berserk, I trashed the dresser. When you came in there, I was getting ready ta try …" he stopped. He didn't want to tell her what had been going through his mind. It would only hurt her more. He didn't want her to know he had been about to put his own claws into his heart. "I didn't want ta hurt ya, and I couldn't stand the fear." Damn, there was a tear rolling down his cheek.

"Then everything went ta hell. Cyke butted in, then the professor. That damned call from your sister and Creed didn't help things. But you were in my arms, and not afraid. Darlin, you have given me the BEST day that I can remember. You've laughed with me, put up with my crap, and let me make love to ya over and over. I can't blame ya if ya want ta leave, ta look for something better. You deserve better. I just want ta thank ya for the best day of my life."

He started to get out of the seat, but her hand on his shoulder stopped him. She leaned in, and he thought she was going to kiss him, hoped she was going to kiss him, to stop him from leaving. What she did was better. She gently laid her tongue on his cheek, and licked the tear track from his face. Then she put her arms around him and just held him.

"You know, you really are a big jerk." She said in his ear. He laughed, hard. She had no idea. Everyone had either gone inside or were clumped in small groups on the yard. Jean, Scott, Ororo and Bobby were standing near the vans. Logan climbed out of the van, and then turned and lifted Kit to the ground. He pulled her back into his arms. She wasn't going to get away, not unless she WANTED to go, and he was praying hard to whatever higher power might be out there that her sanity would stay gone, and she would want to stay with him.

"Bout damned time." Scott muttered under his breath as he closed the van door and started to walk around to the front to drive it back to the garage. Logan grabbed his shoulder as he passed.

"Scott, congratulations on the upcoming nuptials," he almost smirked at the shocked look on OneEye's face. "You and Jean deserve ta be happy."

Scott just shook his head a bit, and smiled. Logan could see the confusion, and grinned. Keeping OneEye on his toes was fun, and that was one bit of fun he wasn't going to have to give up.

"Logan, can I talk to you a moment." Jean walked up, her uniform torn in several spots.

"Kit, why don't ya go check on Mia, make sure that idiot mate of her's hasn't done somethin stupid." Kit looked at Jean in askance. He reached out and pulled her into a long kiss.

"Red and I have some things ta settle, Darlin." He said softly. She smiled, and walked up the steps, he could smell the uncertainty on her. What was he going to have to do to make her realize he only wanted her?

He turned to deal with Jean. "What do ya want, Red?"

"Are you alright? You said some things yesterday that I didn't want to accept, and I know you are hurting, I can sense it." She moved a little closer to him. "I am sorry for the pain I have caused you, Logan."

"I forgave it a long time ago, Red. But I got my own life now, a mate…a mate that is a double handful, and I would have to have a third hand ta keep carryin a torch for you. Somethin had ta give; you will always be important ta me, Red. Marie cracked my heart, you ripped it wide open, and I will always love ya for that. But you and Scooter are getting married, and that is as it should be. I wish ya the best Red." He took her hand for a moment, and kissed it.

Scott came out the front door just then. "What the hell?"

"Just congratulating the bride, Scooter, don't get your tighty whitey's all in a knot." Logan chuckled at something Kit had said. "Or as my mate would say, pull the corncob out of your ass." He laughed all the way into the mansion. He hoped Jean had enough of her telekinesis left to lift Scott's jaw off the ground.

Logan didn't feel like dealing with Creed at the moment, nor did he particularly feel like 'socializing' with the enemy, so he decided to go upstairs. Marie and Jubilee were whispering in their room as he passed by. He laughed, and they both jumped. Some things were still the same.

Mia lay quietly on the bed. She was still trying to digest what Jean had told her this morning. Vic had taken off, Kit right behind him, he had been furious. If she hadn't been hooked to this bed she would have gone with them, but then Jean came in with the results of her blood panel and all the blood had drained from her face.

How in the hell was she going to deal with this. How was HE going to deal with this? She debated not telling him. She knew he would leave her eventually, what would a man like him want to be tied to a weak, frail thing like her, a weak, frail thing that couldn't even remember to take her pill on time. It had to have been her fault. She tried to think back, she thought she had remembered every day, heck Vic had made sure she remembered, when he could remember. Grams' advice had stayed with her. Getting pregnant was NOT the wise thing to do at the moment, but here she was.

Vic came back into the room. He was always so quiet, so gentle in here; as if he were afraid he would hurt her. He had been that way a lot lately, come to think of it. She wondered if he suspected.

"Darlin, Erik is here. There was trouble, like he suspected, at the rally. A bomb, and a sniper, Hank and Kit were hit." She sat up in the bed. "Kit's ok. The runt made sure she was safe, but I wanted ta be the one ta tell ya."

"God, how many people were hurt?" She asked. He just shook his head.

"Don't worry about that, Darlin. We got bigger problems." He sat in the chair next to her bed.

"I think you should stay here. I will stay close, but I don't think I can take all these kids around here, and I don't want ya ta see me hurt anyone."

"Vic, I want to be with you." She said, taking the hand he had set on the bed. He gripped her hand like she was going to disappear.

"Darlin, I can't take care of ya. This just proved it. Ya got sick, I put you out there, without real shelter, without real support, and I almost lost ya." He laid his head on the edge of the bed. She was scared. He looked up.

"Darlin, I can smell your fear. What is it? It can't be me leavin ya, you will be better off without me. What is it?"  
She had to tell him. "Vic, Jean told me this morning…I am so sorry…" she started crying. He looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Darlin, please, I don't do tears so well…what is it?"

"Vic, I'm pregnant." She waited for the roar, the anger, the accusations.

"Damn, Darlin, I knew THAT five weeks ago. Hell, Erik had ta tell me ta stop struttin round the camp, at least till ya were far enough along ta actually know yourself."

"YOU KNEW. And you didn't tell me." She couldn't believe this.

"Why the hell do ya think I had Toad hangin around all the time when I couldn't be there? I had ta have someone watch over you, you and the cub."

"So why are you leaving me?" She asked, tears flowing again.

"Because I can't take care of you, and a cub on the way; I ain't leavin, just we will go back ta how things were at the farm. I will always be nearby." She heard his voice choke. "I can find a place nearby, where we can meet, I will see ya every day, Darlin, but these geeks, they can take care of ya better than I can."

"There is no way in HELL I am letting you leave me for THAT reason, Victor Creed." Tears were flowing down her face, and she was pissed. He was talking about leaving her, the one thing that she feared the most, and for such a stupid reason. OK she got sick, OK she was pregnant, but damn it, she loved him, and wasn't going to let him go, even if she had to hit him with another tree branch to make him see reason.

"Neither am I," Said Kit from the door. "If I have to have the Professor lock you in that damned adamantium cage they have for when Logan goes berserk, you are staying here, with her."

"I can't." He looked from one sister to the other, and Mia could see his confusion. "First off, the runt and I livin under the same roof is a disaster waitin ta happen, secondly, I doubt these X geeks are going ta want me around. I have put a hurtin on a few of them a time or two, and thirdly, I ain't exactly easy ta hide, someone will recognize me, and then we are all screwed."

"Just give us some time, Victor, please." Kit said, taking one of his huge hands in hers. "My sister needs you, I don't understand it, but she does. I swear I don't know which of you two is the bigger jerk, you or Logan, although I have to say trying to run out on her after getting her pregnant is currently putting you on the top of the list."

"I don't WANT to leave her. That is the last thing I WANT to do." Mia clutched his hand tightly. She could tell he was getting angry at her sister, and didn't want him to hurt her.

The door to the room opened again, and Erik and a man in a wheelchair came into the room. Erik looked at the three of them, sighed, and walked to the far side of the room, leaned against a wall, and folded his arms across his chest. Mia could tell he didn't like what was about to happen.

"Erik and I have come to an agreement that we hope will be agreeable to the two of you," Said the man in the chair. Kit spoke up, seeing Mia's confusion.

"Mia, this is Professor Xavier."

"With the increase in anti mutant activities by the Friends of Humanity, and other groups, Erik and I have agreed that perhaps we need to form an alliance, at least temporarily. We have both agreed that you would be the perfect liaison between our two organizations."

"Have you lost your mind, old man? I can't stay here. These kids would drive me insane and someone would get hurt. Mia needs ta stay. In her condition, it is the best place for her, but I ain't exactly…uh…used to livin the fine life if ya know what I mean."

"Professor, there is that old cabin, back in the woods. I found it when I was out on a hike with Jubilee. It looks like someone has been working on it." Kit said a twinkle in her eye. Mia knew she was up to something.

"Hrmm. That might be an ideal solution. It would place you here on the grounds, but away from the school. Mia would be close enough for medical treatment, and you would still have your privacy."

"You would let Mia live with me?" Victor looked stunned. Mia was shaking so hard, wanting him to say yes. They could live here, and be together, and still be away from everyone. It sounded perfect, at least for a while.

"I don't see why not. She is your mate. She is carrying your child." Mia watched Victor's face. He seemed to be thinking it over.

"I need ta talk ta Mia about all of this." He said, slowly.

"I must put in my protest on this. Don't get too comfortable, Victor, I will need you, and expect you to come when I call." Erik said from across the room.

Vic growled at him. Mia had wondered when he was going to get tired of being treated like a dog, she knew Erik was a friend of her grandmother's but she really didn't like him all that well.

Erik, Kit and the Professor left the room for them to talk. "Kid, this sounds almost too good to be true. I don't trust it." He was looking down at the floor. She knew he didn't want to be tied to one place.

"Vic, can we try for a while, at least until I am back on my feet from this. If you can't stand it, we will move on. I will go where you go. You are my mate, my lover, and I don't want to have to try to live without you." She said, putting her entire heart into what she said. She wanted this, for the baby's sake at least. Someplace safe for the baby to be born; she didn't know WHEN she had started thinking that way, but she had. She wanted this baby, Vic's baby, and she wanted him with her.

"It looks like the only way, Darlin; but I will have ta leave, ta take care of what Erik needs done. I gave him my word, and even if most people see me as some kinda animal, I KEEP my word."

"Well, I don't see you as an animal; and this baby won't see you as an animal. I love you, Victor Creed, and whatever you decide I will do, but I want you to at least think about this offer."

"I am, Darlin. I am. There is one major problem with the whole thing that I see; the runt. I ain't going ta take orders from him. I can handle the other geeks, even that damned red eyed one, but the runt and me; we are just too used to handling things our way, tryin ta kill each other. It's going ta be hard enough, dealin with all the others, but him, that is going ta be hell. Damn, he was funny as hell with Kit, wasn't he, tryin ta hide how he felt."

They both laughed at that, and then sat in silence for a while, his head resting on the bed. She dozed off, a glimmer of hope resting in her chest. As long as he and Logan could stand being in the same area, she might have a safe place to have her baby, and have it's father around.

Kit went looking for Logan after leaving her sister's room. If they were going to stay, he would have to agree to at least form a truce with Victor. She was NOT going to put up with more displays like this morning. Victor was going to have to behave too, but that was Mia's job to control.

She checked the kitchen, but the only ones there were Bobby and Marie, and from the looks of Marie's hair, they had been catching up on lost time.

"Get a room." She said with a smile as she walked through the kitchen. Both of them looked over at her and grinned.

"Actually, we were planning on asking the Professor about that." Bobby said.

"Well, he was plannin' it. He still needs ta ask me." Marie said, stroking his hair with a glove covered finger.

"Yea, like you'd say no." Kit said as she started to climb the back stairs. She could hear them laughing behind her. Halfway up the stairs the door at the top opened. Jean started down.

"Can I talk to you?" Jean asked.

"I am kinda busy at the moment." Kit said.

"I want to apologize for yesterday. I am afraid you may have gotten the wrong idea about why I came to talk to Logan."

"No, I got the right idea; you were making a move on my man, while you had one of your own down the hall. You can't have your cake and eat it too, Jean. Logan is my mate. We may not have much of a relationship, but at least we have that. Stay away from my man." Kit passed the red head, and started back up the stairs. The door at the top slammed in her face.

"I see your powers are coming back. Why don't you go find something productive to do with them, like plan your wedding?" Kit looked back over her shoulder. Jean was glaring at her. "Let's face facts, Jean. I am the one in Logan's bed, not you. You never gave him even that much. You have NO right to be pissed at me because he moved on. You never even stepped up to the plate. You know, if you were still dead, this would be harder, because competing with a ghost is impossible. You really did me a favor coming back to life, and for that I thank you."

She reached out and opened the door. Jean let her go. She had been a little afraid she wouldn't. She walked down the hallway; Jubilee was in their old room, listening to music, with the door open.

"Hey, Jubes, have you seen Logan." Kit asked.

"He came upstairs earlier, but haven't seen him lately."

"Thanks." Kit walked down to their room. She was still having a little problem with that idea. She had never LIVED with anyone before; even at home she had always had her own room, her own space. She remembered how violated she had felt, when she looked over the mess Victor had made of it. In the dorms, she and Stacy had shared a suite, with each girl having her own room, but a shared living space. Now she was going to have to share her space with Logan, and already she was having issues.

The room was a mess. True he had cleaned up after his temper fit yesterday, but already things were scattered and just thrown around. His tattered clothes from earlier were lying at least in the general vicinity of the clothes hamper. He had thrown the bag in the closet, and the door wouldn't close all the way because one of the straps was caught in it. The mini fridge was covered in empty beer bottles, and the window was open, and there were ashes on the sill. The bed was still unmade from this morning, and hung over the standing lamp was the damned Bugs Bunny tie. Somehow it had survived the day; and of course Logan was no where to be seen.

"Damn the man. I am NOT living with a slob. He is going to have to do something about this crap. I am not his mother." She grumbled as she spread up the bed. She opened the closet and kicked the bag strap all the way in so the door would shut. At least someone had moved her clothes on their hangers and they were hanging neatly on her side of the closet. She wouldn't even look at his side. He hadn't even unpacked the bag, just thrown it in the closet. Well she sure as hell wasn't unpacking for him. She noticed something under the edge of the bag. It was the casing for the pillow, the one he had shredded, the one she had thrown at him, the one he said he had slept on the entire time he was gone. Suddenly she felt like crying.

He cared. He REALLY cared. He might not love her, not the way Vic loved her sister, or her Dad loved her Mom, but caring was a start. She still was having a hard time with what he had said in the van. She sat on the floor and held that piece of fabric close. Somehow it was one of the most precious things in the world to her.

Logan found her there; the closet doors open, holding that piece of cloth. She looked up at him and smiled. He held out a hand to her and helped her up.

"I am NOT living with this mess." She said with a smile.

He laughed and pulled her against him. She rested her head against his shoulder. It felt good to be in his arms. They were lovers, mates, and somehow that was enough at the moment. He had been out front, smoking. She could smell the smoke in his shirt. Someday she would tell him how much that smell, how much that nasty old habit of his had made this place seem like home, and even now, in his arms made her feel safe and secure.

"I'll get the room cleaned up, Darlin." He said against her hair. "I need ta get Hank's tie back to him."

"The Professor invited Vic and Mia to stay." She whispered.

"I know; I saw him downstairs."

"Who?"

"Chuck, he told me what he had said, and what you had suggested. I kinda had plans for that cabin, but I agree, Vic and Mia need it more."

"What plans?"

"Darlin, I started fixin that place up last year. It was where I went ta get away from the damn kids." He laughed.

She laughed. "Ohhhh…I guess you are going to have to find someplace else to get away from the damned kids."

"Yep, looks like it."

"Logan, do you think you can handle it, you and Vic living in the same area, being on the same side?" She watched as he walked across the room and started picking up beer bottles.

"Yea, I can't remember, but I think we may have worked together before, at some point." He had filled up the small wastebasket and was looking for someplace else to throw bottles.

"Why don't you wait on those, we can get a big trash bag from downstairs, later." She said.

"Just keeping busy, Darlin." He looked over at her. "Are you ok?"

"I am fine, Logan, why?"

"Well, it's Logan, not jerk or asshole."

"Well, you aren't acting like one." He grinned at her across the room. "Are you ok?"

"Why?"

"Well, you are clear over there, and I am still wearing this damned vest, that you promised you would help me with." She loved it when he moved like that, fast, graceful, almost frightening. His hands were on the bottom of her tee, grabbing both it and the vest and slowly pulling them up over her head.

"Don't want no lookyloos." He said as he reached over to close the door, and then threw her top and the vest toward the hamper. He pulled her up against his chest, "I think I said something about helping ya clean up too." He grabbed her lips in a long slow kiss, as his hands roamed up her bare back.

"Tell you what. You go get a trash bag, let me get in the tub, and you can scrub my back." She said when she could talk again.

"I have a better idea. You get undressed, let me watch, then we can run you a shower and I can scrub ya down, then we can go ta bed early." He leered at her.

"Nuh huh. You are getting a trash bag and cleaning this mess up, or I am moving back in with Jubilee."

"What about Marie?"

"Bobby asked her to move in with him."

"I'll kill the Icecube." He started for the door.

"No you won't. God you are as bad as my Dad. Next thing I know, you'll have a shotgun somewhere, and plan on using it on poor Bobby."

"I don't need a shotgun, Darlin. I got built in hardware."

"Well, while you are hunting Bobby, get a trash bag and come back and clean up this mess. I am your mate, not your damned mother and I am NOT picking up after you."

"You are damned serious."

"Yes I am." She hated messes. She could handle a little clutter, but filth bothered her, and ashes on the window sill and empty beer bottles counted as filth in her book. "I have a niece or nephew on the way, and I am not babysitting in a room full of empty beer bottles."

"WHAT. You ain't bringin a baby in here." The look on his face was priceless, he had no idea Mia was pregnant.

"Oh, really?"

"Yea, really."

"Well, jerk, last time I checked you weren't being too careful about that kind of thing. Guess it is good for you I AM." She slammed the bathroom door and locked it.

"KIT. Open that door or I will cut it down." He was pounding on the door with a fist.  
"Just try it, I will make sure the Professor knows who is responsible for him having to replace the door." She said, as she turned on the tub. With the water running she didn't have to listen to him.

She could hear him muttering in the room outside, pacing just outside the bathroom. She couldn't hear what he was saying, and frankly didn't care. Suddenly, she heard the bedroom door slam. She took off the remainder of her clothes and slipped into the tub. Her arm ached, and now so did her head. Why did that man drive her so crazy?

Vic came up the elevator. Mia was asleep, and he needed to think. She wanted to stay, but only if he did. He knew Erik was heading back out into the wilderness; there were still warrants out for his arrest. Victor didn't know if there were any out on him or not, he might have the X geeks check that. He heard grumbling coming from the kitchen.

"Get a fuckin trash bag, she says. I won't live with this mess, she says. I ain't your mother she says. Women are just too much fuckin trouble. I ain't bein careful, she says. Like a man could think with her waving that ass in his face." The runt was digging around under the sink like, well like a Wolverine.

"I ain't in the mood, Creed, so just back off." He said from under the sink.

"Just like knowin someone else is goin through hell." He said.

The runt banged his head under the sink. "Hell, yep, it's hell." He pulled his head out, a box of trash bags in one hand and sat on the floor, looking up at him.

"Ya mind tellin me just what you are doin in here?"

"Thought I might get a drink, do some thinkin. Actually, I was headin out ta the woods. Check out this cabin your frail told me about. See if it might do for my frail and cub, least for a while."

"You can think?" The runt was getting on his nerves, already. "As for the cabin, the electricity needs some work. I ain't been able ta find the short in the front room, One wall ain't got no power at all. The water runs, it has its own well, but it ain't on the main gas line so you will have ta get propane or something ta use the heater for the water tank. There are three rooms, front room is combo livin, dinin, and kitchen, two smaller rooms with a bath between in back."

"Guess I know who's been workin on the place then." Creed said, sitting in one of the chairs at the table.

"Roof is sound. I fixed the leaks bout six months ago." The runt got up and sat across the table from him. "Needs some weatherstrippin round the windows, and might need ta calk. The AC works ok, but probably needs Freon. Heater is gas, so again you're going ta need ta figure out something. Only appliances are the water heater and a fridge I put out there to store my beer. It has a padlock on it, but I figure that ain't going ta stop ya."

"Are we having a civilized conversation, Runt?" Vic looked across the table at the dark haired man he had such a long history with.

"Guess so. Hell, I think I can get along better with you than I can with my damned mate at the moment. And why the hell did ya have ta get your's pregnant right now. Mine is threatenin' ta babysit." He got up and went to the fridge, he threw a can of soda across and Vic grabbed it out of the air.

"Don't know how it happened. I made sure she took the damned pills every day. It definitely wasn't planned." Vic looked down at the can of soda. He slipped one claw under the edge of the little ring and tried to pop it open. Damned things never would open right. He punched his thumb through the opening.

"Shit, you mean she was on the pill, and still got pregnant." The runt sat down across from him again, his own can of soda in front of him.

"Yep, was damned proud when I smelled it too, but then started getting worried. What would happen if we were out there and something happened? She needs ta be where she can get medical care, especially now. I ain't sure about stayin here. I ain't sure you and I can handle bein that close without killin each other."

"Damn it, Creed, we are family now, or at least damned close. I can handle it if you can."

Victor shuddered; there was that 'F' word again. His own memories of family weren't great, and now the damned runt considered himself his family. How the fuck was he supposed to deal with this?

"So you're not pissed about the birthday present?" Vic asked.

"Pissed at her at the moment, yea but not about her. How the fuck do you know when my birthday is anyway?"

"Don't worry about it. It'll come back ta ya in time. Just realize that yesterday was yer birthday and remember it." Vic grinned, knowing his fangs were showing to the runt. He wasn't going ta tell him. If he didn't remember the past, it might be a good thing, at least while he and his mate were living nearby.

"Do ya want ta go look at that cabin now. I think my mate needs ta cool off a bit." The runt, no Logan, said to him. If he was going to be living here, he needed to change a few things.

"Sure." He stood up, and the two of them walked out the back door of the mansion. Some of the kids were outside, playing soccer, and just stopped to stare. The kid with the deadly skin smelled scared, he didn't blame her, the kid with her smelled angry, and she smelled like him, so he couldn't blame the kid either.

"Someone needs to put in some kind of monitoring on these kids. Those two are actin like they are in heat or something." He said to the Logan as they walked across the yard.

"Yea, I know. That's part of why my mate is pissed at me, cuz I wanted ta have a talk with Icecube over there with my claws."

Vic laughed. "I guess Kit got the temper then. Mia usually doesn't give me any trouble, well a couple times, but only when I needed it I guess. She usually ends up using some kinda weapon ta get my attention and then she lets me have it."

"Damned hard to believe they are sisters." Logan chuckled. The woods closed in around them, sunlight coming through the branches overhead in patches.

"Mia and I have had a couple rough patches, mostly with Raven bein a bitch and tryin ta kill her a time or two. Least I won't have ta worry bout that here." He said as they walked the stone lined path. Damn this place was pristine. It bothered him, he didn't like being in places like this, they were too civilized. Soon they came to a path that branched off, and this one wasn't cleaned up. This was more like it. He saw motorcycle tracks in the dried mud of an old puddle.

"Who's scoot."

"Mine, I come up here after going inta town for a drink every now and then. Going ta have ta clean my books out. Doubt you and Mia want ta read 'Walden."

"Naa, He ain't my favorite, I prefer Poe." Logan looked at him funny. "What, just cuz I can kill anything that walks don't mean I am illiterate."

"Well, considerin people look at me that way sometimes I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I just can't see you readin a book, much less the classics." Vic laughed. Well he had been a little surprised when Logan mentioned books, himself.

The cabin was just that. It was a frame structure with what looked like cedar siding. The siding had been patched in a couple spots, and recently, and the roof had been replaced. The door was closed, but there was no lock.

"Ya padlock the fridge but not the front door?"

"Hell, I figure if the kids find the place, and a few have, they deserve ta explore it. There is a note on the fridge so they know who it belongs ta. Course if you and Mia move in down here, the fridge is yours, and you should lock the door. Some of the older kids use it as a make out shack every now and again, but they tend ta only do that if I ain't home."

They looked over the cabin. One of the back rooms was big enough for a king sized bed, if not much else, and the other would do for the cub when it got here. The only furniture in the place was an old army cot, and a home made bookshelf made of cinder blocks and two by fours in the living room, and an old lawn chair near the window.

"It's real homey, Runt." He said, and meant it. He could feel right at home here. He hoped Mia could. The structure was sound, roof was good, and it wouldn't take much to get it livable. Hell he could live in it as is. It beat the hell out of the tent they had been living in. Erik had left their gear when he and the others headed out earlier. Raven had given him a few good taunts about being lead around by his little head. He wouldn't be sad to be shrift of that bitch for a while, and he knew Mia wouldn't either. His mind was made up, they were staying, at least until the cub got old enough to travel, if the geeks could stand him that long.

Logan opened the fridge with a key out of his pocket and pulled out two cold beers. That was more like it, soda was for kids.

"So, what's the deal with you and your mate?" He asked.

"She has been pissed since the rally. I thought I had her calmed down, but then she got pissed when I wanted a little sack time instead of cleaning up the room."

"Never have ta worry bout that much, Mia does most of the cleanin, and I take care of the big stuff, like gettin food and makin the moves.

"It ain't like I am a slob or anything. I have been gone for three months for Christ's sake. OK I left empty beer bottles on the fridge for three months, and I didn't put the clothes that were shredded by a bomb in the damned hamper, and maybe I left cigar ash on the damned window sill, but was that any reason to slam the bathroom door and not let me help with her bath."

Victor couldn't help it he just sat on the floor of the cabin and laughed, and laughed and laughed.

"Watch it bub," Logan said, standing by the fridge, draining his second beer.

"Damn runt, I will say this, you definitely got the high maintenance one. I just hope Mia don't pick up any ideas from her sister. I am already on a really short leash as it is. Hell, at least I won't have ta listen ta Toad ribbin me about it anymore. I ain't complainin mind ya, she's worth it, but DAMN, Kit's got ya runnin in circles."

"Damn, I even told her how fuckin much I care today. I mean she couldn't figure it out on her own; I had ta damn well spell it out for her. I thought women were supposed ta be able ta deal with that feelins crap." He threw Vic another beer.

"Don't ask me, I have had two I guess you could call 'em relationships in my life. First was just for sex, and I left when she got tiresome. Most of my life women have been good for a quick fuck, and that is it. Mia, damn, that girl is something else. The day I met her she brained me with a tree branch and when I went ta get some of my own back, I'll be damned if she didn't kiss me. I was so damned confused I didn't know what ta think. It was really the first time I had had sex with a woman and gave a damn if she got anything out of it; and I'll be damned if she didn't keep comin back for more. You've seen her. She's TINY. I still don't know how the hell we manage. I STILL think I am going ta hurt her or something."

"I'll say this Creed, I never figured ya for a sap," Vic growled at him "but the way ya look at her you'd think she was some kinda buried treasure or somethin. I mean Kit is a good kid, and I give a damn, really give a damn about her, but I ain't ever lookin at a woman like that."

Victor held his hand out for another beer, Logan tossed it.

"Runt, you are so screwed. I give ya two months, three tops, and you'll think that 'good kid' hung the moon and stars, and if she asks ya ta clean the room, you'll be down in the bathroom with a toothbrush gettin the grout clean, just ta see her smile." He could see the doubt in Logan's face, he just shook his head and stood up. "And speakin of hung the moon and stars, and gettin ta see her smile, I gota go tell her we are stayin. Don't bother walkin me back. I think I can find it." He finished off the beer, and threw it into the barrel outside. "And clean up before ya leave. Don't want my frail pissed at me for your mess." He could hear the runt grumbling behind him, but he didn't care.

The sun was lowering in the west. He could smell kids and the wild animals of the woods, and there under it all was his Mia. He followed that scent all the way home.


	10. Lost Boys and Golden Girls

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

Chapter X

Logan slipped his boots off in the stairway. He had grabbed the damned box of trash bags on his way back into the school. He dropped his socks inside the boots. He slipped quietly up the stairs and down the hallway. The door to his room, no their room, was still closed. He had sat quietly in the cabin for a while, thinking about what Creed had said. He would be damned, that monster had made sense, he did like to see her smile.

How in the hell had CREED managed to make him think like this. Maybe it was that damned sappy look on his face when he talked about Mia, maybe it had been the tone in his voice when he had said he was afraid of hurting her, or maybe it was the grin on his face when he had left, just to see her smile, but somehow Logan began to think it might be possible for an animal, a killing machine like himself to actually find something like that.

He opened the door quietly, hoping Kit was asleep. The bed was empty and the bathroom door was open, he could smell she wasn't in the room. She had been as good as her word, his mess was still there. Her tee he had thrown on the floor was in the hamper, the vest folded and laying neatly on top of the dresser. The rest of her clothes were in the hamper, and the towels were hung neatly in the bathroom to dry.

He pulled a large black trash bag out of the box; if she wanted the room cleaned up, fine. He picked up the shredded clothes from this morning, they wouldn't ever be wearable again, and put them in the bag. Then he gathered up all the beer bottles, even the ones that had rolled under the bed. He took the bag back down the stairs, and went looking for an ash tray.

**In the study, Logan, in one of the desk drawers, is a crystal ash tray. ** He could swear he could hear Xavier laughing. He growled, and headed for the study.

He took the lead crystal ashtray up to the room and set it on the windowsill. He got a damp rag from the bathroom and wiped up all the ashes. The room looked good, a little spartan but good, he went down to the laundry room and grabbed a real bedspread from one of the cabinets. Hell he even made sure it matched the curtains. He went back upstairs and remade the bed.

He opened the closet door. His bag was on the floor where he left it. He picked it up and began to unpack the neatly folded items inside. He had stopped on the way in to do laundry so whichever kid was in detention and on laundry detail didn't have to do his. In the bottom of the bag was an old cigar box. That is what he had been looking for. He opened the box; several large rolls of cash and some small yellow envelopes lay inside. He put the box on the bed, folded the bag and put it in the top of the closet and closed the doors.

He grabbed the box and went looking for Chuck. He needed a favor.

Vic was sitting next to Mia's bed talking about the cabin when Kit walked in. Mia squeezed his hand to let him know she wanted to talk to Kit alone. He stood up, towering over the bed, and walked out the door, looking back at her before he closed it.

"What's up sis?" She asked as Kit took the chair next to the bed. Jean had cleared her to get out of med lab today, but she was going to have to rest for at least a week.

"I don't know what to do about Logan. Things are moving way to fast." Kit said quietly.

"Too FAST, Marquette Jamison, he is your mate. It can't be too fast."

"When did you know Vic was your 'mate'?"

"The first time I saw him. I had had a run in with Danny, and was sitting on the old depot platform."

Kit chuckled. Mia knew she and Danny had had a bad breakup, and ever since he had joined the sheriff's department, he had hassled Mia.

"Hope Deputy Studmuffin didn't give you too much of a hard time." Mia laughed. Kit and Danny had been close, she had even gone to the prom with him, but he just wasn't what she had wanted in life, or that is what she had told Mia when they broke up.

"Naa, just the usual, trying to find out how you were doing; I didn't want to deal with him so I hid at the old depot. I was bored, I don't know really if I heard something, or just felt it, but I knew I was being watched. He was standing back in the trees, but somehow I could see him clearly. He was HUGE. I knew right then and there that that was the man for me." Mia laughed. "I let him follow me back to the farm, I always seemed to know where he was, when he was watching, and made sure I put on a good show. One day I saw him by the side of the road, he was just looking at me, with the strangest look on his face, and then slunk off into the trees. The day you and I had that fight about school, he followed me into the woods. One good hit with a tree branch, to let him know I wasn't putting up with any shit, and I let him know I wanted him."

"A MONTH, you guys were together a MONTH, and you decided you knew what was best for my life." Kit was pissed.

"Kit, Vic was worried. You were putting off pheromones like crazy, to be honest, if you hadn't been, and Vic hadn't been in a mating frenzy when I clubbed him, things might not have turned out as well. When I look back on it, I realize that he could have, and probably would have raped and killed me, but I can't help it, I love him."  
"It was my fault?" How was she going to explain to her that it was no one's fault? Her sister had such a control thing, and worse than that, a guilt thing.

"No, Kit, Grams said you were probably just going into heat or something."

That didn't work; Kit just put her head in her hands and moaned.

"Kit, listen, please, it isn't your fault. It isn't anyone's fault, and if Logan hadn't been your mate, he wouldn't have reacted. I mean Mom and Hank were dating for years, Mom had actually considered marrying him, when she met Dad. Then all bets were off. Sometimes I am afraid Vic will wise up and leave me, I am such a pain in the ass, but then he gets that look on his face, the one that says 'I love you' and I know he isn't going anywhere, but it took weeks of sneaking around before it was anything more than sex, GREAT sex. Logan will come around."

"You make it sound like he doesn't have a choice." Kit said, sadly.

"Of course he does. But face it, in the end, he is a man. He is going to look forward to regular sex, comfort and companionship, and those are the things you provide. He will get comfortable first, and then he will wake up one day and wonder what the hell he did without you. All men go through it; Vic was funny as hell when he realized he loved me. Funnier when he realized I loved him. Kit, sis, you may be book smart, you may have made it to college, you may be the one with the four point oh grade point average, but you don't know SHIT about life. You giving Mom a hard time about giving up her career; it is what she wanted to do to be with Daddy, and that was all that mattered. I understand that. I really wanted to go to college, but now, all I want is to be with Vic, have this baby, and have a family. College doesn't matter to me. They do."

Vic walked back in the door. He had that look on his face, the one that said Mia was the only woman in the world. She smiled at him and held out her hand.

"Now, Kit, go find your mate, make up, and give life some time. Yea, your relationship is moving fast, quit fighting it and ride the wave. It will take you where you need to be, I promise." Kit laughed as she walked out of the room; she held the door open for Jean.

Jean walked over and began unhooking the IVs. She pulled the needle out of her arm, and Vic winced. He gripped her hand, HARD.

"It's ok, baby." She said to him. He was so funny, in how protective he was of her. Even the smallest scent of blood and he went off the deep end.

"Scott and I have been getting some of the kids to help move some things into the cabin. It isn't livable yet, so you have been given a room on the second floor until the work on the cabin is finished. We should have it done in a day or so." She smiled at them, but it didn't reach her eyes, those were almost pitch black. It was a little scary for Mia to see the mild mannered doctor like that.

"Thanks, Doc." Mia said, watching as her eyes returned to normal. Was it Kit that caused that reaction? Mia didn't know, but hoped her sister could handle the red head.

"You can try to stand, and start moving around. If you feel alright in about an hour, then Vic can take you up to your room."

Vic took her elbow and helped her swing her legs over the side of the bed. Jean looked back from the door. "We put your things that Magneto left in the room upstairs for the time being."

"Thanks, Red." Vic said to the doctor. Jean gave him a slight smile, and turned and walked out the door.

Mia stood up, with Vic's help and made a few circuits around the room. As long as she took it slowly she was ok. Vic was hovering over her like a giant mother hen.

Three hours, four phone calls, and a huge headache from the bank later he sat in a car, Jubilee chattering away at him from the passenger seat. Why had he thought this was a good idea, shopping with a gum popping, chatterbox mall rat.

Chuck had recommended a few places to look for what he wanted, and none of them were in the mall. He drove down the quiet street where the first place was. He couldn't find a parking spot so he drove around again. Damn this was getting annoying. He was about to forget the whole thing when a large black sedan pulled out of a spot right in front of the store. That would do.

Damn. Even Jubilee quit talking when they walked into this place. It was more upscale than any shop he had ever been in.

"Are you sure about this place, Wolvie? I ain't sure these people are going to even speak to us." Jubilee whispered. Two young women stood behind raised counters. They both looked at each other, and then back toward the door at them.

"Chuck said they were the best in town."

"Well the Professor would know."

"Can I help you?" One of the girls behind the counter asked, looking down her nose at Logan's leather jacket and jeans, and Jubilee's ever present yellow trench coat and mall rat attire.

"Professor Xavier called for me. I was supposed to speak with James.

"Wait right here." She said and pressed a button on the counter. The other counter girl looked him over with an appraising eye.

He looked in the glass cases; this was like no other store he had ever been in. There were very few items on display, and those were back lit and looked way beyond his budget. Jubilee just stood next to him; for once her hands were in her pockets. Even SHE knew better than to mess with anything here.

An older man walked out of a door in the back of the store.

"Ahh, Mr. Logan. Professor Xavier said you have very exacting taste, and specific design ideas. Please come back into my office." He and Jubilee followed him. He hoped this guy could help with what he was looking for.

Kit went looking for Logan, but he was nowhere to be found. She looked for Jubilee but there was no sign of her either. She went up to the room. She still couldn't call it their room. She was afraid he would change his mind, and tell her to get out. She had taken a huge chance this afternoon, slamming the bathroom door on him. He had allowed her to get away with it, but she still didn't know how far she could push him. She opened the door, and stood in shock. He had CLEANED. Not just straightened up, but cleaned the room. She walked in slowly, thinking she might have entered the wrong room; but no, there was the mini fridge, there was even an ashtray on the windowsill. She opened the closet. His bag was unpacked and put away. Even his shoes were lying neatly across the floor of his side of the closet. She shut the door in amazement. She walked over and sat in the chair by the window. He must have had a cigar before he left, because there were ashes in the tray, but none on the windowsill. She could smell the lingering of the cigar.

She looked over at the dresser that held her things. On top was her bag for school. She got up and grabbed it. She looked around the room but couldn't find a network hookup. She made a mental note to ask for one later. She took the bag and went downstairs. The library was full of kids, and the Professor and Ro were having a meeting in the study; just great, no place to hook up. She headed back upstairs, to Marie and Jubilee's room. Marie was inside, packing her clothes into bags.

"Guess you and Bobby got the OK?" Kit asked from the door.

"Yep, the Perfesser just kinda asked us what took us so long. Guess with you and Logan and Jean and Scott and now Mia and Vic people are pairin off round here like crazy."

"You aren't upset about me and Logan are you?"

"HELL no, shug; its bout damned time he got over that red haired bi…Jean, anyway."

"You don't like her much do you?"

"Ah like her fine, Ah just don't like what she did ta Logan, stringin him along like that, then thinkin he'd be waitin for her AGAIN."

"Well, she did DIE." Kit said, flopping down on her old bed.

"Yea, and that's tha reason Ah don't hate her. It was just a bad situation all the way round. You lookin for somethin, or just bored?"

"All the hookups downstairs are full or occupied, and of course the Jerk doesn't have a hookup in his room."

"Your room, Shug." Marie looked over at her, concern on her face.

"I still can't get used to that idea. I mean it was hard enough sharing with you two. I had NEVER shared a room till I came here, except in college, and even then I had my own bedroom." She pulled out her new laptop. Her parents had sent it after the insurance check had cleared. She hoped there wouldn't be any problems with her sister being involved with the guy who trashed the house.

"Well, ya know where tha hookups are in here. Hell, Jubes is thrilled. She's going ta get tha room all ta herself. Least till someone else shows up."

"No one to tell her to turn down the music."

"No one to yell about usin up all tha hot water."

"Damn, Jubes is going to be in paradise." The two girls laughed.

"How do you feel about sharing a room with Bobby?" Kit asked her.

"Well, it will sure as hell be more convenient, if ya know what Ah mean." Marie laughed.

"I mean besides that, losing your privacy, having someone there, in bed with you at night; no personal space, no place to get away if he is bugging the hell out of you." Marie sat on the bed with her.

"Is that how ya see it?"

"Yea."

"Sugar, you got a lot ta learn bout men. They don't ask ya ta live in their cave if they ain't willin ta share. You need space, tell Logan ta take a hike. Hell, he'll prob'ly take ya literally and hike tha grounds. Ya need ta get away, come down ta my room, I'll tell Bobby ta take a hike and take Logan with him." Marie pulled her into a hug. It still amazed Kit how comfortable she was around Marie.

"If Logan didn't want ya there, he wouldn't have asked. If ya didn't want ta be there, ya shoulda said no."

"I do want to be there, I am just afraid he will change his mind. With all this mess with Jean, and now Vic and Mia being here and absolutely dopey about each other, I get kinda sad. I know he can never feel that way about me, but that doesn't stop me from wanting it." Kit wiped a tear away.

"Well, hell, shug; Ah don't know what ta say. Ah know Logan well enough, especially since I got a double dose of him in mah head, ta know he ain't gona change his mind. Once he sets himself somethin, it takes a good dose of hurtin ta make him quit. That's prob'ly why he was so damned idiotic bout Jean. He asked ya ta live with him. As far as Ah know, and Ah got his memories, or at least what he had when Ah absorbed him, he ain't NEVER lived with a woman; EVER. HELL, Shug, you're as good as married ta him as far as he's concerned."

"REALLY?" Kit was stunned. She had no idea; God that opened a whole new ball of wax. Was she really ready for that kind of relationship? Marriage, she wasn't even sure she liked him, he was such an ass. No, that wasn't true, and she knew it. She liked him, hell, if she really wanted to admit the truth, she was falling hopelessly in love with him, she just knew he didn't, couldn't feel the same way.

She had forgotten why she had come to see Marie, but she was glad she had. She picked up her bag and headed for the door.

"You ok?" Marie asked.

"Yea. I need to think about this." Kit felt like she had been hit over the head. She opened the door just as Vic and Mia came up the stairs. He was carrying her in his arms and she was laughing. They were completely oblivious, so lost in each other. She smiled, damn her kid sister was happy, and giving her parents their first grandchild. SHIT she hoped no one had told her Dad.

She went back to her room, and walked slowly across to the chair. She sat down and slung both legs over one arm; as good as married? Was that good enough for her? Did she even WANT to be married? She had wanted marriage and a family at some point, but had wanted to have her career first. She still wanted her career, not the one she had originally planned, but something working for mutant rights. Where did Logan fit into that? Could he fit into it? She felt a sudden panic, thinking about a life without Logan. She couldn't do it. She couldn't face not having him there. How the hell was she going to reconcile the two?

The door opened, slowly, and a piece of white fabric waved in the crack.

"Truce?" He said from outside the door.

She laughed. He had that going for him, he could make her laugh. "Come in you jerk."

He opened the door back. He was wearing his jacket so he had been out. He hung it up in the closet.

"Thanks for cleaning up." She said.

"No problem, Darlin, it needed it." He sat on the end of the bed.

"We really need ta deal with what's buggin ya." He said, after a long silence.

"It isn't you, Logan. I am not angry with you, or at you, or because of you." She said quietly. "I just feel so out of control; so lost. I don't know how I am going to have the life I want and have you in it. I feel like I don't have any choices. I feel like you are absorbing me, and I am nothing but a reflection of you; like I really am a mirror. I don't want to be like Mia, to just have you in my life and nothing else and that be my whole world."

"Well, hell, Darlin. What do you want out of life?" He asked.

"I want my degree, I want a career, and I want a family and a home and a…husband." She whispered the word, and he still flinched. "I know it is more than you can offer, and I understand that. Hell we have spent a total of thirty eight hours together in the last three months, and thirty six of those have been in the last two days. I feel like things are moving too fast around me, and I want to stay still. Mia said I should just ride the wave, and stop fighting it; but that means the wave is in control not me."

"Darlin, if ya want ta slow this down, we can. If ya want ta tell me ta get the hell outa your life, well Darlin, I will go." His voice choked on the last word. "It'll hurt like hell, but I'll go. I ain't got nothin against ya gettin your degree; I ain't got nothin against ya havin whatever career ya want. Hell, Darlin, I was damned proud of ya today, that rally took work, and lots of it, and you organized it. That took skill, knowledge, things I ain't sure I understand, but I can sure as hell admire in ya. As for the rest, well, all that takes time, and I am askin for it. Give me time, please." He was looking at his hands the entire time. "As for bein in control, or outa control, I can promise this, if I ever, EVER seem ta be takin your choices away, find somethin and hit me on the head, just don't do it in a fight."

"I can do that, sometimes quite gladly." He chuckled.

"Now, what would ya like ta do bout dinner?" he asked.

"Dinner?"

"We gotta eat."

"Oh. I was planning on going down to the dining room or something." She said.

"Well that's real romantic."

"Well you asked what I was planning to do."

"No Darlin, I asked what would you LIKE ta do, as in a date."

"Oh" she breathed. He was asking her out on a date. A DATE? He laughed and stood up. He stalked across the room and knelt in front of the chair.   
"Can I take ya ta dinner, Kit?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Yes." She said. She reached out and laced her fingers in his hair. It was so soft, like silk across the back of her fingers. It sill amazed her that somehow she was allowed to touch him. She didn't realize she had said that out loud.

"Allowed, hell, Kit, I am begging." He whispered, as he turned to kiss her palm. She turned in the chair until her feet were on the floor in front of him. He reached up and pulled her out of the chair and onto the floor with him. He pressed her body against his, breathing hard against her hair as he tucked her head under his chin. He just held her, no pressure, no sly caresses, just held her.

"So any decent Chinese places in town?" She asked.

"Yep." He whispered against her hair. "Chinese sounds good ta me." He stood up, pulling her with him.

"Darlin, if you are a mirror of me, I really NEED to reevaluate myself, because I sure as hell don't deserve somethin like you." He said as he held her against his chest. She laid her head on his shoulder.

It had been three days since that first date, and he was getting nervous. Things were moving along smoothly, for a change. No major catastrophes, although he was getting a little tired of Jean cornering him every time he stepped out of his and Kit's room. He still hadn't gotten a call from James. How long was this going to take?

He and Kit were helping Vic and Mia get moved into the cabin. The two girls were arguing over what color to paint the smaller room. He and Vic were sitting on the sofa they had finally gotten EXACTLY where Mia wanted it. Logan was really beginning to evaluate if he had ended up with the high maintenance sister after all.

"You sure you can handle this, Creed?" He asked.

"Yea, I am sure." He had that I will grin if it kills me look on his face. "I keep tellin myself she's worth it." He laughed.

"I heard that." Mia yelled from the back of the room

"Thanks runt, guess I am sleepin on the couch tonight."

"Never, baby." Mia said as she stepped into the room. "Why in the world would I want to sleep without my favorite pillow?"

"Yep, SHORT leash there Creed." Logan laughed. He got up and went to the fridge, Creed had restocked it with beer, thank God. He threw one over to the giant, and carried his own back to the sofa.

"Uhhhuh, I heard about your shopping trip. And the Professor asked for help with that other favor you asked for, my contacts were better for handling that. You are good to go, when your purchase is ready. Even put your real name on the documents. Don't know why ya don't just go over the border, then ya don't need tha damned green card, but hell, it's your funeral. Don't forget it again."

"What?" Logan looked at Creed. "You know my name?"

Victor just laughed at him. "Yep, so you're nice and legal now."

"How long have you known me, Creed?" He asked.

"All your life, runt, all your life." Logan tried for several more minutes to get more out of the big man, but he wouldn't say anything else.

"So heard anything from Erik?" Logan asked.

"Nope." Vic walked over to the fridge and threw Logan a beer this time.

"Did ya hear about that attack in New York City, in that mutant neighborhood?"

"Yep, more Friends of Humanity goons; death count is goin up, and they don't seem ta care if it is their own dyin or not." He sat back down on the sofa.

"I ain't likin this, Creed. Ta be honest, I am kinda glad you are sticking around. Least I know what you can do in a fight, and these kids may need us ta protect em."

"Erik is keepin track of these FoH goons. He is tryin ta find out who their leader is and cut the head off the hydra so ta speak."

"Might not be a bad idea, Chuck won't like it, but…."

**Logan, you might want to make a trip into town, your purchase is ready.** The professor said in his head.

"Thanks," He said out loud.

"Kit, Darlin, I need ta head into town for a bit."

"Can we come with you? Mia wants curtains for the living room and baby's room."

"I can drop ya, but I have somethin I need ta pick up and was planin on takin my scoot. Chuck gave me a cell phone; ya can call me when you are ready to be picked up."

"Naa, we will just borrow a car. We still have a few things to decide on before we head out anyway."

Logan took off. He had been waiting for this call for three days. He had had a lucky streak in the cages, while in Canada. He hadn't known what he was going to do with those packets when he won them, but he was so glad he had. They had saved him thousands. It still was costing him a hefty amount, but it was worth it.

He walked into the exclusive shop. The same two girls were behind the glass counters. This time they both looked him over appraisingly.

"Sorry, Darlins, I'm taken."

"Well, if she changes her mind…" One of them said.

"Not going ta happen."

"Not after she sees what James has been working on." Said the other one, the door to the back office opened and James came out.

"Ah, Mr. Logan, I believe you will be quite pleased with what I created for you."

He walked through that door, a big grin on his face.

He left the store a little while later, and jumped on his scoot. He was glad he brought it, parking sucked. He drove back to the mansion; he couldn't wait till he could see Kit. He pulled into view of the house. An old beat up pickup truck was sitting in front of the mansion. He pulled around to the garage, and headed into the mansion. He could hear a man's loud voice in the front hall, and Jean trying to calm him down. He walked through the arch, Jean had her hands out, a man waving a shotgun was standing in the front door, the woman with him trying to grab onto his arm. Professor Xavier wheeled out of his office.

"I am trying, Charles." The woman said.

"Franklin, please, both of your daughters are safe. They went into town to purchase curtains for the house that Mia and Victor will be living in."

"Over my dead body." The man with the shotgun said. Franklin, SHIT it was Kit's dad.

**Logan, I feel retreat might be the better part of valor at the moment. I am about to have to calm him down to prevent anyone getting hurt.**

"Sorry, Professor, but I ain't runnin from this."

"Just who the hell are you?" Frank said, pointing the gun at Logan. Suddenly a look of recognition flashed across his face.

"I would be Logan. I am the one sleeping with your oldest daughter."

"OH HELL." The gun landed on the ground, and Frank charged, like a bull, hitting Logan in the gut with his shoulder. They crashed into the wall behind Logan, and Frank pulled back a fist and hit Logan square in the jaw. It was at that point Mia and Kit walked in the front door.

"DADDY, leave Logan alone." Kit screamed. Frank pulled back and hit him again. "DADDY, STOP." Logan just lay there, and let him. He had a strange feeling; someday he was going to be in Frank's position.

Frank got up off of Logan and walked over to where the two girls were standing. "You are sleeping with the asshole that gave me these?" and he pulled off his shirt. Across his back were three parallel scars.

"Yes, Daddy, I am." Kit said. Frank grabbed her by the arm.

"I am takin you home, young lady. I sent you here to be safe, not attacked by some cage fighting brute." Logan walked over and put his hand on Frank's shoulder.

"She hasn't been attacked. And I happen ta have purely honorable intentions."

"Oh really, so prove it, asshole."

"Well, actually, I had kinda planned on doing that later this evenin, but ok here goes."

He reached into the pocket of his jacket. There was a small velvet box in his hand when he pulled it out. He opened the box, and got down on one knee.

"Kit, Darlin, will you marry me." He asked, holding his breath. He knew she thought things were moving too fast, but damn it he loved her, he couldn't think of any other way to tell her.

She pulled her arm out of her father's hand, shock on her face. He could see it was the last thing she had expected. "Yes, you big Jerk." She threw herself against him, on her knees, kissing him.

"Well, one down." Her mother said behind her. Logan was a little pissed. She hadn't even looked at the ring.

"Darlin, do ya like the ring?"

Kit looked down at the box in his hand. He had won the stones in one of his fights, James had said they were excellent gem quality and the ring he had created to showcase them was absolutely gorgeous. They weren't diamonds, but he had it on good authority, namely her sister, that Kit hated diamonds. The dark green emeralds were not normal for an engagement ring, but hell; from the tears in her eyes she loved it.

He slipped it on her finger and stood up pulling her with him. He pulled her against his side.

"Name's Logan, James 'Logan' Howlett. Your daughter calls me jerk, and I guess asshole will do." He held out his other hand to his future father in law. He felt Kit start in surprise next to him. Her father took his hand and shook it.

"Logan will do." He said. "Now where is this other asshole?" Just then Vic came walking in from the kitchen looking for Mia.

Logan laughed. Let Vic learn the hard way, he was taking his mate, no his wife, to their room, he had a name to give her now, thanks to Vic, and all the documents necessary to make it legal. He smiled and steered her toward the stairs, Vic and Frank went flying past him; let Creed figure out how he was going to explain getting Mia pregnant. At least Logan hadn't had that headache to deal with.

**LOST BOYS AND GOLDEN GIRLS**

Lost boys and golden girls, down on the corner and all around the world  
Lost boys and golden girls  
Down on the corner and all around, all around the world  
It doesn't matter where they're going, or wherever they've been  
'Cause they got one thing in common it's true  
They'll never let a night like tonight go to waste  
And let me tell you something, neither will you, neither will you

We gotta be fast, we were born out of time, born out of time and alone  
And we'll never be as young as we are right now  
Running away and running for home, running for home 

Lost boys and golden girls, down on the corner and all around the world  
Lost boys and golden girls  
Down on the corner and all around, and all around the world

Author's Notes

There have been a bunch of questions about things I have created for this story so I am going to do a FAQ….

**Jean and Scott's return**- the very Long winded explanation is this, and you don't get it in the story because that event takes place when the story is in Kit's POV and frankly not something she would be overly concerned about at that moment.

Jean (Phoenix) didn't leave after Wolverine killed her at Alcatraz, She chose to stay at the mansion. Because Phoenix is Jean's baser emotions, including grief, pain, anger, sex, fury, frustration, it clung to the mansion even though that was its place of imprisonment. When Phoenix killed Scott, she couldn't let him go, again possessiveness is a part of her make up, so she forced his life force to remain with her, the professor was too strong to force him to stay with her, and so he was able to transfer his consciousness to the body in Scotland. When he returned to the mansion, Phoenix who had been suppressing the Jean side contacted Xavier, wanting to take a physical form. He agreed to create a hologram in the Danger Room that she could occupy, one he could shut off if she got out of line. Ororo, Logan and the Professor were witness, to not only Phoenix's manifestation in that hologram, but of Jean's breaking out from Phoenix, and begging the Professor to allow her to correct her mistakes. She used the immense power of Phoenix to recreate both hers and Scott's bodies and placed both of their consciousnesses inside them. Jean chose to recreate her body BEFORE Phoenix took over, so that the barriers that the Professor had in place were still there (IE before the tidal wave at Alkali Lake.) Doing so drained Phoenix's power completely and it will be years before Jean/Phoenix recovers from this. The Professor, realizing his mistake spends the months with Scott and Jean helping Jean to begin integrating both personalities into one. This will be an ongoing process, and there will be many Phoenix outbreaks in the rewrite and sequel to The Mirror.

**The Y-Factor** – This is a creation of my own. In everything I have seen, and read, of the X-men Universe, the X gene is passed through the male line. The Y factor is a female passed trait, and one that is literally primordial. It is the thing that makes humans predominantly monoamorous. I kept it in the mitochondrial DNA since that is the basic DNA information that can be traced back, unchanging, to as I had Logan say "when man came down out of the trees" It is NOT a mutation, in that it is not something that has changed. Certain strands of DNA create a strong pheromonal reaction in both the trigger person (in most cases a female) and the target person. In the case of Kit and her family, it is a throwback to when females sought mates based on protection as well as procreation. It is that thing in all humans that cause us to look for and work for a monogamous relationship in our lives. It isn't anything Kit or Logan, or Mia or Vic can control. Literally the girls were genetically hardwired to be attracted to men like Logan and Vic, and within the feral DNA mutation is a hardwired response. The pheromones produced begin by being generally targeted to they type of male the female needs for a mate, and then as her body reacts to the pheromones she receives from the males, her body begins to tailor the pheromones she produces to the males that are closest to what her genetic code says she needs in a mate. It takes approximately six to eight weeks of exposure to the pheromones for the lasting bond to be formed (which explains why Mia and Vic are actually much closer to each other in the bonding process, than Logan and Kit.) I am not certain this explained what I am getting at with this, and hopefully the next plotline that is screaming at me to get on paper will clear some of this up.

**Mix of comics and Movie** – yes I decided to mix a bit of both into this, especially with the Sabertooth character. There is a huge amount of unexplored territory with him and it has actually been fun to try to reform the darn rascal. (I think he is wearing off on me, though so that can't be a good thing.) I never really had any interest in Sabertooth except as an antagonist until I started writing chapter two, and now the darn cat is in my head and wanting more attention. I also admit to the somewhat comic book way of bringing Jean and Scott back, I just really needed them back at the mansion, it left too big a hole to fill.

I will update author's notes as I get questions, and as always PLEASE REVIEW. I love to know what people think of my writing. Thanks to joegood2003 and BriceSquared for the great reviews.


	11. Epilogue

The Mirror

All characters except Kit and her family belong to Marvel Comics and/or Fox Entertainment. All songs used in this work are performed by Meat Loaf, written by John Steinman I am in no way making anything off of this…

An attack on a farmhouse in the Midwest spawns a whole new adventure for the staff and students at Xavier's Institute and one unsuspecting new mutant. AlbumFIC (Bat out of Hell II is playing in my head as I write this.) Movieverse, post X3. WIP PLEASE REVIEW.

Epilogue

Kit sat next to Logan, his hand wrapped around hers. Mia and Vic were sitting behind them. She could hear them whispering, and giggling. It was a good thing Vic had a healing factor, or he might not be sitting here with them today. Her parents were three rows back, with Hank McCoy. She wondered how that seating arrangement was going. Her father was still sporting a black eye and a cut over his eyebrow, as well as a cast on his left arm. He was going to have to learn that Vic and Logan had figured out that fighting him would not be in their best interest, but Hank on the other hand could be vicious.

The couple at the altar kissed, the blue, long tailed priest, grinning like an idiot as he pronounced them Mr. and Mrs. Scott Summers. The wedding was held outside, in the gardens that Ro loved so much. Through the ceremony, Jean had thrown a few dark looks at Kit and Logan, but all Kit had to do was flash her ring, and Jean would turn away.

The last few weeks had been interesting to say the least. Jean had been more and more desperate to get Logan alone the closer the wedding came. She couldn't seem to accept that he wasn't pining away for her, that he had moved on. She had cornered Kit in the kitchen one morning, eyes black as pitch, hissing that Logan would always be hers, in his heart. Kit had just smiled, and went back to fixing he fiancé his lunch. For some reason, after the night he proposed, Kit wasn't feeling very threatened by the red head anymore.

Scott had finally stood up to her, two days ago, demanding that either she be with him, or not but to leave Logan and Kit alone. They had all heard the fight and the make up after. Kit had a little more respect for Scott after that, Logan wasn't the only one who could make a woman scream in bed. Jean still didn't like her much, but she didn't care.

Vic leaned forward and whispered in Logan's ear. The two men laughed, quietly, and Kit was honestly afraid. When Vic and Mia had moved in, they had been very careful around Logan, and honestly, Logan around them. Then one day last week, both men had lost their tempers, and gone at each other, all out, no holds barred. Once they had worn each other out, they had ended up going into town, doing their best to get totally drunk, and come back acting like best friends. Mia and Kit hadn't spoken to them for days afterward, both men sleeping on couches, until Kit had found herself shoved into a big closet on the ground floor, Logan with her, and Vic outside demanding they kiss and make up. Of course Kit and Logan had done something similar to Vic and Mia later. Now when the two of them started whispering, Kit and Mia got scared, really scared. They had turned into the two biggest pranksters in the mansion, and even the Professor couldn't keep them in line. She knew they were up to something, and HOPED it was the bride and groom who were the target this time. She was still looking for her new laptop, Logan wouldn't tell her where he hid it, and wasn't going to until she wore him out. That was impossible, with his healing factor but what the hell, it was fun to try.

The bride and groom walked down the aisle, hand in hand, and after they left the guests filed out and into the mansion for the reception. Logan let go of her hand, and he and Vic disappeared.

"Oh, God, I hope they aren't doing anything dangerous." Mia said.

"Me too." Kit said to her sister.

"So have you managed to get your laptop back?"

"NO. Damn jerk won't give it back, says I am not trying hard enough."

The two sisters laughed as they came alongside the row where their parents were sitting. Their mother was sitting between Hank and their father, carrying on a conversation with the big blue mutant. Their father looked totally miserable.

"Let's take pity on him." Mia whispered.

Both girls grabbed their father and pulled him out with them.

"I can't believe your mother is thinking about getting back involved with this place." He said, as they linked arms on either side of him. Mia was on the side with the cast.

"Well, Daddy, she has been letting all that work she did go to waste, and you know she will go home with you, she will just be bringing some stuff to set up a lab in the basement." Kit said, teasing him.

"Yea, but if she is in the basement, working, where does that leave me."

"Umm on a tractor, where you usually are." Mia said, laughing at the crestfallen look on their father's face.

"Things have been so nice, since you girls left, almost like a second honeymoon."

"Oh PLEASE, get a room." Kit said.

Her father glared at her, but bit his tongue. He had found out the hard way that Logan would put up with only so much and him criticizing their sleeping arrangement was one of the things he wouldn't put up with.

"Poor Daddy." Mia said. "Mom is fascinated with Hank's research, Logan and Vic just won't fight with you, and you are feeling so lost around here."

"Mia, quit." Kit said. She was looking around the crowd for Logan or Vic. They must be someplace else, because Vic couldn't hide in this crowd.

"Why don't you two go find your mates?" Their mother said from behind them, "and give me mine back." The two girls laughed and ran off.

Kit went upstairs to their room, hoping Logan was there. There was no sign of him, so she went back out into the hallway. Jean was coming out of her room, she had taken off the wedding dress, and was in a more comfortable summer dress for the reception.

"Congratulations, Jean." Kit said.

"Don't get too comfortable. Logan isn't the sticking around kind. Have you lost him already?" Jean taunted her.

"Whatever." Kit turned to walk toward the back stairs, when she stopped suddenly.

"Don't turn your back on me." Jean hissed in what Kit was beginning to recognize as the Phoenix voice.

Kit was spun around by the force of Jean's power. She just looked at the red head, and then closed her eyes. She could see Jean's power, see HOW she used it, and Kit wondered, just wondered, if that had anything to do with kinesthetic memory. Someday, she was going to have to find out, but not today. She opened her eyes, and looked into Jean's black orbs.

"Don't you have someplace to be?" She said. They both could hear Scott calling her from downstairs.

"Just remember," Jean said, as her eyes reverted back." Logan was mine first, and I will always be there, and you will always be second choice." She threw her red hair over her shoulder, and Kit felt the telekinetic bonds holding her drop away. One of these days, Jean was going to get a huge slap in the face.

"Hey, Darlin." Logan was coming up the back stairs. "You ok?"

"Yea, just dealing with your dead ex whatever she was." Kit said.

"I am just not sure she is stable. Stay away from her, Darlin, please."

"Well, that won't be a problem for a month or so while they are on their honeymoon."

"Yea, about that." He was running his hands through his hair again. Oh no, what had he done. "Your mom and dad invited us to come out before school starts, and I told them we would."

"WHAT?"

"Yea. Just for a week or so." He was somewhat sheepish as he said it. He was up to something.

"YOU JERK." She screamed at him. The whole mansion knew they were fighting again. Sometimes she thought he did that, got her mad, just so they COULD fight. Suddenly it dawned on her. He did do it deliberately; it was his way of letting her have some control.

She rushed at him, and he caught her against his chest. "I love you." She whispered.

He looked at her in shock. She wasn't sure if it was shock at what she said, or shock that he had been caught, but she didn't care. She kissed him, and then when they could breathe again got a shock of her own.

"Love ya, too, Darlin."


End file.
